Laundry treatment apparatus

ABSTRACT

The present disclosure relates to a laundry treatment apparatus including a cabinet including an inlet defined in one side thereof, a door rotatably coupled to the cabinet so as to open and close the inlet, a laundry hanger support, which is provided on an inner surface of the door and supports pants, a base plate, which is coupled to the inner surface of the door and supports the pants hung on the laundry hanger support, a rotating shaft provided in a width direction of the door, a roller rotating about the rotating shaft and pressing the pants, and an elastic member configured to apply elastic force to the roller such that the roller presses the pants toward the base plate and to support the rotating shaft.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present disclosure relates to a laundry treatment apparatus, andmore particularly to a laundry treatment apparatus configured to presslaundry via a roller to thus remove wrinkles from the laundry whileexposing the laundry to steam.

BACKGROUND ART

A laundry treatment apparatus refers to an apparatus designed to washand dry laundry and to remove wrinkles from laundry in a home or alaundromat shop. Those classified into a laundry treatment apparatus mayinclude a washing machine configured to wash laundry, a drying machineconfigured to dry laundry, a combined washing and drying machineconfigured to perform both washing and drying, a laundry managementmachine configured to refresh laundry, and a steamer configured toremove wrinkles from laundry.

A steamer is an apparatus configured to supply steam to laundry in orderto remove wrinkles from the laundry. Unlike a typical iron, a steamer isan apparatus configured to remove wrinkles from laundry by applying heatto the laundry via convection without directly applying heat to thelaundry (in such a manner as to bring the laundry into contact with ahard object).

Meanwhile, a laundry management machine is an apparatus configured tomaintain laundry in a refreshed and clean state. The laundry managementmachine may be configured to brush dust off of laundry, remove odorsfrom the laundry, dry the laundry, and apply a scent to the laundry.Furthermore, the laundry management machine may serve to prevent thegeneration of static electricity, remove wrinkles from laundry usingdehumidified air or steam, and sterilize the laundry.

Korean Patent Registration Publication No. 10-1220579 discloses a steamsupply configured to spray steam. However, because the steam supplyserves to supply only steam to laundry without applying tensile force orcompressive force to the laundry, there is a limitation on ability toremove wrinkles.

Korean Patent Registration Publication No. 10-2099179 discloses alaundry treatment apparatus. The laundry treatment apparatus is capableof performing deodorization and removal of wrinkles by supplying hot airto a supply part positioned below a cabinet or pressing laundry in thestate in which the laundry is disposed in the reception space in thecabinet.

In addition, the laundry treatment apparatus is capable of performingdrying, deodorization and removal of wrinkles by supplying hot air orsteam to laundry in the state in which the laundry is stretched by itsown weight in a cabinet. Furthermore, the laundry treatment apparatusoffers an effect of efficiently removing wrinkles from pants or formingcreases in the pants and obviating ironing after completion of washingor drying by pressing the surfaces of the pants using a presser providedon the inner surface of a door.

Particularly, the laundry treatment apparatus is provided on the innersurface of the door with a pants treatment unit (or a press unit), whichis also referred to as a presser or a pants press configured to removeunwanted wrinkles or folds and form creases or pleats (intended in thedesign stage of the pants) in the pants using steam. [9] The presser isconfigured to press the pants by rotation on one side surface of thepants. However, because the presser is operated in such a manner as topress the pants beginning from one side surface of the pants, there isno other choice but to sequentially press the pants from the one sidesurface to the other side surface of the pants. In this case, becausehigher pressure is applied to the portion of the pants close to thepresser and lower pressure is applied to the portion of the pants faraway from the presser, there is a problem in which the pants are notuniformly pressed. As a result, there is a problem in that the shape ofthe pants becomes deformed or the position of the pants is changed dueto being pushed by the presser while the pants are pressed by thepresser.

Furthermore, the conventional laundry treatment apparatus poses aproblem in that a larger number of creases are formed or creases areformed in a direction completely different from an intended direction.

In addition, because steam and hot air must necessarily be supplied in atreatment chamber, there may be excessive expenditure in that steam andhot air must be supplied throughout the entire treatment chamber inorder to remove wrinkles from only one pair of pants. Furthermore, theamount of steam that permeates laundry may be reduced due to a pressplate.

In order to solve the above problems, Korean Unexamined PatentPublication No. 10-2011-0048343 discloses a clothing treatment apparatusequipped with a scanner, which is configured to apply steam, hot air orheat to pants in the state in which the pants are tightly stretched andfixed to a door inner plate. The scanner is capable of applying steam,hot air, or heat to the fixed pants while moving up and down in thevertical direction of a door. However, due to a rail provided at a baseplate, pants are not supported by the base plate but are held at theupper and lower ends thereof by clips, and the scanner provided betweenthe pants and the base plate applies steam, hot air or heat to the pantsto remove wrinkles from the pants in the state in which tensile force isapplied to the pants. Accordingly, because wrinkles are removed from thepants using the tensile force, the fabric of the pants may bepermanently stretched upon repeated use.

Furthermore, the treatment process in which the scanner slides along therail as in ironing while the pants are merely pulled by the tensileforce exposes limitations on removal of wrinkles or formation of clearlyvisible pants' leg creases. In addition, because the scanner is notconstructed so as to be rotated, the pants may be pushed when thescanner moves up and down.

Korean Unexamined Patent Publication No. 10-2018-0083740 discloses alaundry treatment apparatus, which includes a roller capable of movingwhile pressing pants after the pants are disposed on a base plate. Theroller is configured to hold the upper and lower portions of laundrycontained in a chamber and to be actively rotated on a flat surface inconjunction with a moving unit that moves vertically. However, when adoor inner plate has a curved surface at the portion thereof on whichpants are disposed, and the roller merely moves linearly on a flatsurface at the inner surface, wrinkles may be generated in the pantsbecause the pressure applied to the pants may vary depending on thecontact area between the roller and the pants. Furthermore, although theleg parts of pants must be pressed, the upper part of the pants must notbe pressed because the upper part has pockets, zippers, buttons and thelike. In this case, when the upper part of the pants is also pressed,unwanted wrinkles may be formed in the pants.

DISCLOSURE OF INVENTION Technical Problem

One technical task of the present disclosure is to remove wrinkles byefficiently and uniformly pressing laundry in a limited space.

Another technical task of the present disclosure is to spray steam onlyto laundry from which wrinkles are to be removed, rather than all of thelaundry contained in the chamber, and to heat and press the laundry.

Another technical task of the present disclosure is to minimize doublecreases by uniformly pressing laundry.

Another technical task of the present disclosure is to press laundrywith a constant pressure regardless of the thickness of the laundry.

Another technical task of the present disclosure is to prevent a portionof laundry that does not need to be pressed from being pressed.

Another technical task of the present disclosure is to independentlyoperate only a press unit without operating the entire machinecompartment by spraying steam only to laundry from which wrinkles are tobe removed.

Another technical task of the present disclosure is to independentlyoperate only a press unit even when a door is open.

Another technical task of the present disclosure is to supply powerduring upward and downward movement of a roller and to minimize exposureof a power supply to moisture or water.

Another technical task of the present disclosure is to minimize theamount of steam by spraying steam only to the pants to be treated.Furthermore, another technical task of the present disclosure is tominimize energy consumption by heating the pants to be treated.

Another technical task of the present disclosure is to minimize the sizeof a water supply passage or a steam passage during spray of steam.

Another technical task of the present disclosure is to improve energyefficiency and user convenience by operating only a pants treatmentunit.

Solution to Problem

The present disclosure is capable of forming intended crease having adesired length in pants and to remove wrinkles by pressing the pantsusing a roller. The roller is capable of moving in the verticaldirection of a door. Furthermore, because pants may be pushed when theroller moves while pressing the pants, the roller is capable of movingin the vertical direction while rotating actively in order to preventthis problem. In order to avoid stitch lines in the pants, the roller isconfigured so as to be depressed in the intermediate portion thereof. Amount supporting two ends of the roller is moved along a guide hole or aguide formed in a door inner plate, thereby guiding vertical movement ofthe roller.

Furthermore, the present disclosure is capable of varying the extent towhich the roller presses the pants by controlling the distance between adoor inner plate and a base plate or the distance between a guide andthe base plate.

In order to press only the leg parts of the pants excluding the waistportion, for example, the portion equipped with inseams, it is possibleto control the distance between the base plate (or the rear surface) andthe guide rail.

In order to achieve the above tasks, the present disclosure provides alaundry treatment apparatus including a cabinet including an inletdefined in one side thereof, a first chamber, which is positioned in thecabinet and receives laundry therein through the inlet, a secondchamber, which is positioned below the first chamber and defines a spaceseparated from the first chamber, a door rotatably coupled to thecabinet so as to open and close the inlet, a door inner plate positionedon the side of the door that faces the first chamber, a laundry hangersupport, which is provided on the door inner plate and supports pantshung thereon, a base plate, which is coupled to the door inner plate ina state of being spaced apart therefrom and supports the pants hung onthe laundry hanger support, a guide hole oriented in the verticaldirection of the door and formed through the door in a directionperpendicular both to the vertical direction and to the width directionof the door, a rotating shaft provided in the width direction of thedoor so as to be parallel thereto, a roller rotating about the rotatingshaft and pressing the pants, a moving unit supporting the rotatingshaft and moving in the vertical direction of the door due to rotationof the roller, and an elastic member positioned at the moving unit andconnected to the rotating shaft so as to apply elastic force to theroller such that the roller presses the pants toward the base plate.

The moving unit may include a moving mount, inserted partway into theguide hole and moving in the vertical direction of the door, and amoving support, coupled to the moving mount so as to support therotating shaft, and the elastic member may be positioned between themoving mount and the moving support so as to elastically connect themoving mount and the moving support to each other.

The moving mount may include a moving mount body, receiving therein aportion of the moving support, and a support hole, positioned at themoving mount so as to face the first chamber and to allow a remainingportion of the moving support to project outwards therethrough, and theelastic member may be received in the moving mount body so as toelastically connect the portion of the moving support to the movingmount body.

The base plate may be coupled to the door inner plate in the state ofbeing spaced apart therefrom and may be configured to have a curvedsurface at a portion thereof close to the laundry hanger support, themoving support may include a first support body inserted into the movingmount and connected to the elastic member, and a second support body,which is connected to the first support body and supports the roller,and the elastic member may be positioned between the second support bodyand a mount body upper surface and may apply force to the roller towardthe base plate when the distance between the door inner plate and thebase plate is equal to or greater than a predetermined distance.

The base plate may include a support surface supporting the pants, thesupport surface including a first support surface, which is positionedat an upper portion of the support surface and has a curved surface, anda second support surface, which is positioned below the first supportsurface and extends parallel to the door inner plate, and the distancebetween the door inner plate and the first support surface may increasemoving toward the second support surface.

The distance between the door inner plate and the second support surfacemay be constant.

The door may include a rear surface, which is a surface of the doorinner plate positioned far away from the inlet, a door outer platecoupled to the rear surface so as to define a mount space therebetween,and a guide positioned on the rear surface so as to control the distancebetween the roller and the moving unit.

The base plate may further include a third support surface, which ispositioned at a lower portion of the support surface so as to beconnected to the second support surface and has a curved shape, and thedistance between the door inner plate and the third support surface maydecrease moving away from the second support surface.

The guide may include a first guide surface positioned so as tocorrespond to the first support surface and to face the first supportsurface in a state of being parallel thereto, and a second guidesurface, which is positioned so as to correspond to the second supportsurface and to face the second support surface in a state of beingparallel thereto and is connected to one end of the first guide surface.

The guide may further include a third guide surface, which is positionedso as to correspond to the third support surface and extends from thesecond guide surface parallel to the door inner plate.

The transfer portion may include a moving mount inserted into the guidehole, a wheel, which is coupled to one surface of the moving mount andmoves the transfer portion along the guide in the vertical direction ofthe door, and a moving support, which is coupled to the moving mount andsupports the rotating shaft, and the elastic member may be positionedbetween the moving mount and the moving support so as to elasticallyconnect the moving mount and the moving support to each other.

The moving mount may include a moving mount body receiving therein aportion of the moving support, and a support hole positioned at themoving mount so as to face the first chamber and to allow a remainingportion of the moving support to project outwards therethrough, and theelastic member may be received in the moving mount body so as toelastically connect the portion of the moving support to the movingmount body.

The rotating shaft may include a first rotating shaft and a secondrotating shaft rotatably supporting two ends of the roller, the transferportion may include a first transfer portion and a second transferportion, which are respectively coupled to the first rotating shaft andthe second rotating shaft at the two ends of the roller, the guide holemay include a first guide hole into which the first transfer portion isinserted and a second guide hole into which the second transfer portionis inserted, the first guide hole and the second guide hole beingprovided at two side surfaces of the base plate in the verticaldirection of the door, and the elastic member may include a firstelastic member, positioned at the first transfer portion so as to biasthe roller toward the base plate to thus press the pants and to supportthe rotating shaft, and a second elastic member, positioned at thesecond transfer portion so as to bias the roller toward the base plateto thus press the pants and to support the rotating shaft.

The door may include a rear surface, which is a surface of the doorinner plate that is positioned far from the inlet, a door outer platecoupled to the rear surface so as to define therein a mount spacetherebetween, a first guide, which is provided at a position on the rearsurface that corresponds to the first guide hole and controls thedistance between the roller and the moving unit, and a second guide,which is provided at a position on the rear surface that corresponds tothe second guide hole and which controls the distance between the rollerand the moving unit, similarly to the first guide.

The base plate may include a support surface supporting the pants, andthe support surface may include a first support surface, which ispositioned at an upper portion of the support surface and has a curvedsurface, a second support surface positioned below the first supportsurface so as to be parallel to the door inner plate, and a thirdsurface, which is positioned at a lower portion of the support surfaceso as to be connected to the second support surface and has a curvedsurface.

The distance between the door inner plate and the first support surfacemay increase moving toward the second support surface, the distancebetween the door inner plate and the second support surface may beconstant, and a distance between the door inner plate and the thirdsupport surface may decrease moving away from the second supportsurface.

The first guide may include a first guide surface positioned so as tocorrespond to the first support surface and to face the first supportsurface in a state of being parallel thereto, a second guide surface,which is positioned so as to correspond to the second support surfaceand to face the second support surface in a state of being parallelthereto and is connected to one end of the first guide surface, and athird guide surface, which is positioned so as to correspond to thethird support surface and extends from the second guide surface parallelto the door inner plate, and the second guide may include a fourth guidesurface, which is positioned so as to correspond to the first supportsurface and to face the first support surface in a state of beingparallel thereto and has the same shape as the first guide surface, afifth guide surface, which is positioned so as to correspond to thesecond support surface and to face the second support surface in a stateof being parallel thereto and has the same shape as the second guidesurface, and a sixth guide surface, which is positioned so as tocorrespond to the third support surface and extends from the fifth guidesurface parallel to the door inner plate and which has the same shape asthe fifth guide surface.

The first transfer portion may include a first transfer mount insertedinto the first guide hole, a first wheel, which is coupled to onesurface of the first transfer mount and moves the first transfer portionalong the first guide in the vertical direction of the door, and a firsttransfer support, which is coupled to the first transfer mount andsupports the first rotating shaft, the second transfer portion mayinclude a second transfer mount inserted into the second guide hole, asecond wheel, which is coupled to one surface of the second transfermount and moves the second transfer portion along the second guide inthe vertical direction of the door, and a second transfer support, whichis coupled to the second transfer mount and supports the second rotatingshaft, the first elastic member may be positioned between the firsttransfer mount and the first transfer support so as to elasticallyconnect the first transfer mount and the first transfer support to eachother, and the second elastic member may be positioned between thesecond transfer mount and the second transfer support so as toelastically connect the second transfer mount and the second transfersupport to each other.

The first transfer mount may include a first transfer mount body,receiving therein a portion of the first transfer support, and a firstsupport hole, positioned at the first transfer mount body so as to facethe first chamber and to allow a remaining portion of the first transfersupport to project outwards therethrough, the second transfer mount mayinclude a second transfer mount body, receiving therein a portion of thesecond transfer support, and a second support hole, positioned at thesecond transfer mount body so as to face the first chamber and to allowa remaining portion of the second transfer support to project outwardstherethrough, the first elastic member may be received in the firsttransfer mount body and may elastically connect a portion of the firsttransfer support to the first transfer mount body, and the secondelastic member may be received in the second transfer mount body and mayelastically connect a portion of the second transfer support to thesecond transfer mount body.

Advantageous Effects of Invention

The present disclosure is capable of removing wrinkles by efficientlyand uniformly pressing laundry in a limited space.

The present disclosure is capable of spraying steam only to laundry fromwhich wrinkles are to be removed, rather than all of the laundryreceived in the chamber, and heating and pressing the laundry.

The present disclosure is capable of minimizing double creases byuniformly pressing laundry.

The present disclosure is capable of pressing laundry with a constantpressure regardless of the thickness of the laundry.

The present disclosure is capable of preventing a portion of laundry,which does not need to be pressed, from being pressed.

The present disclosure is capable of independently operating only apress unit, rather than operating the entire machine compartment, byspraying steam only to laundry from which wrinkles are to be removed.

The present disclosure is capable of independently operating only apress unit even when a door is open.

The present disclosure is capable of supplying power during upward anddownward movement of a roller and of minimizing exposure of a powersupply to moisture or water.

The present disclosure is capable of minimizing the amount of steam thatis used by spraying steam only to the pants to be treated. Furthermore,the present disclosure is capable of minimizing energy consumption byheating the pants to be treated.

The present disclosure is capable of minimizing a water supply passageor a steam passage during spray of steam.

The present disclosure is capable of improving energy efficiency anduser convenience by enabling only a pants treatment unit to be operated.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 illustrates an embodiment of a conventional laundry treatmentapparatus;

FIG. 2 illustrates an embodiment of a mechanical component included in asecond chamber;

FIG. 3 illustrates a laundry treatment apparatus including an embodimentof a press unit, which is a feature of the present disclosure;

FIG. 4(a) is an enlarged view illustrating an embodiment of the pressunit, FIG. 4(b) illustrates the embodiment of the press unit, which iscoupled to a door inner plate so as to press pants, and FIG. 4(c) is aview of the press unit when viewed from a lateral side;

FIG. 5(a) illustrates a moving unit inserted into a guide hole formedthrough the door inner plate, and FIG. 5(b) illustrates the moving unitinserted into the guide hole when viewed from a lateral side;

FIG. 6(a) illustrates the guide hole and a power connection structurewhen viewed from the rear surface of the door inner plate, and FIGS.6(b) and 6(c) illustrate moving mounts and wheels, which are provided attwo lateral sides, when viewed from the rear surface;

FIG. 7 illustrates the press unit when viewed from the below;

FIG. 8(a) illustrates embodiments of a first heater, a second heater,and a steam heater, which are provided in the roller, FIG. 8(b)illustrates other embodiments of the first heater, the second heater,and the steam heater, which are provided in the roller, and FIG. 8(c)illustrates an embodiment of a steam generation tank provided in theroller;

FIG. 9(a) illustrates the state in which pants disposed on a base plateare pressed by the roller when viewed from a lateral side, FIG. 9(b)illustrates a cross section of the moving unit, and FIG. 9(c)illustrates a cross section of a moving mount;

FIGS. 10(a) and 10(b) schematically illustrate embodiments of the baseplate and a guide rail;

FIGS. 11(a) and 11(b) schematically illustrate other embodiments of thebase plate and the guide rail; and

FIG. 12 illustrates an embodiment capable of pressing pants by means ofan elastic member provided at the moving unit, regardless of thethickness of the pants, in which FIG. 12(a) illustrates the case inwhich thin pants are pressed, and FIG. 12(b) illustrates the case inwhich thick pants are pressed;

MODE FOR THE INVENTION

Reference will now be made in detail to the preferred embodiments of thepresent invention, examples of which are illustrated in the accompanyingdrawings. It should be noted herein that construction of an apparatus,which will hereinafter be described, and a method of controlling theapparatus are given only for illustrative purposes and the protectionscope of the present disclosure is not limited thereto. Whereverpossible, the same reference numbers will be used throughout thedrawings to refer to the same or like parts.

The specific terminology used in this specification is only forconvenience of explanation, and is not intended to limit the disclosedembodiment.

For example, the term “same” or “identical” not only represents exactlythe same state but also represents a state in which there is atolerance, or a difference that those not prevent the same function frombeing realized.

For example, an expression indicating a relative or absolute positionsuch as “in a certain direction”, “along a certain object”, “inparallel”, “perpendicularly”, “about”, “concentric”, and “coaxial”, maynot only represent the exact position but may also represents a state ofrelative displacement with a tolerance, or an angle or a distance thatdoes not prevent the same function from being realized.

In this specification, the term “wrinkle” means a wrinkle (or a crinkle)or a fold which is unintentionally formed after wearing of clothes orafter washing or drying of laundry. In other words, the term “wrinkle”means a wrinkle or crinkle which is unintentionally formed in clothes inuse or in laundry during washing or drying rather than a pleat or acrease which is intentionally provided for the purpose of design orfunction at design stage. Accordingly, unless the context expresslyindicates an intended pleat or crease, the term “wrinkle” means awrinkle (or a crinkle) or a fold which is unintentionally formed inclothes in use or in laundry after washing or drying.

FIG. 1 illustrates an example of a conventional laundry treatmentapparatus 2000. The laundry treatment apparatus 2000 includes a cabinet150 having an inlet 120 formed in one side thereof, a first chamber 100,which is defined in the cabinet 150 so as to receive laundry through theinlet 120, a second chamber 200, which is positioned below the firstchamber 100 so as to define a space separated from the first chamber100, a steam unit 250 (see FIG. 2 ), which is disposed in the secondchamber 200 and which creates steam and supplies the steam the firstchamber 100, and a door 400, which is rotatably coupled to the cabinet150 so as to open and close the inlet 120. Considering general usage bya user, the inlet 120 is preferably provided at the front side of thecabinet 150.

The laundry treatment apparatus 2000 may further include a blower unit220 (see FIG. 2 ), which is disposed in the second chamber 200 and sucksair in the first chamber 100, and a heat pump unit 230, configured todehumidify and heat the sucked air and to discharge the dehumidified airinto the first chamber 100.

The cabinet 150 may be formed of a metal material but may also be madeof a plastic material, as long as the cabinet is capable of maintaininga required strength. The first chamber 100 may be formed through plasticinjection molding. Although the first chamber 100 may be coupled to thecabinet 150 by means of a frame (not shown), the space between thecabinet 150 and the first chamber 100 or the space between the cabinet150 and the second chamber 200 may be filled with foamed plastic such aspolyurethane.

A laundry including tops and bottoms may be disposed in the firstchamber 100, and may be managed in the refreshed state by means of theblower unit 220 (see FIG. 2 ) disposed in the second chamber 200, theheat pump unit 230 (see FIG. 2 ), and the steam unit 250 (see FIG. 2 ).In other words, it is possible to perform functions of sterilizing anddeodorizing the laundry and of removing wrinkles formed in the laundryduring use, using steam and/or heated air, which is created by theblower unit 250 (see FIG. 2 ), the heat pump unit 230 (see FIG. 2 ), andthe steam unit 250 (see FIG. 2 ), which are positioned in the secondchamber 200.

The first chamber 100 may include a laundry support 190 configured tosupport the laundry at an upper level in the inside of the first chamber100. The laundry support 190 may include a hanger on which the laundryis hung, and may be connected to a drive unit (not shown) capable ofreciprocating the laundry support 190 to the right and left. Themovement of the laundry support 190 may shake the laundry, therebyseparating contaminants including fine dust from the laundry.Furthermore, it is possible to remove wrinkles from the laundry to acertain extent by exposing the laundry to steam or moisture suppliedfrom the second chamber 200 while the laundry supported by the laundrysupport 190 is shaken. An embodiment of the laundry support 190 mayinclude a moving hanger 195, which is shown in FIG. 19 .

In other words, the laundry support 190 may support the laundry, whichis disposed in the first chamber 100 in the state of being expanded dueto its own weight such that the laundry is uniformly exposed to thedehumidified and heated air and/or steam which is supplied from thesecond chamber 200.

Generally, water boils at a temperature of 100° C. under atmosphericpressure, and the created water vapor may be referred to herein assteam. Meanwhile, “moisture” may refer to fine water droplets eachhaving a size of 10 mm or less, which are suspended in air at an ambienttemperature, like fog. Generally, steam, which is created by boilingwater, has bactericidal power superior to moisture because thetemperature thereof is higher than that of moisture, and has excellentability to permeate laundry because water molecules move more activelyat high temperatures. Accordingly, steam may be more efficiently used torefresh laundry than moisture.

The first chamber 100 is defined by a first chamber upper surface 109,on which the drive unit (not shown) of the laundry support 190 ispositioned, a first chamber bottom surface 101 defining the bottomsurface thereof, first chamber right and left lateral surfaces 105 and107 connecting the first chamber upper surface 109 to the first chamberbottom surface 101, and a first chamber rear surface 103. When thesurface in which the inlet 120 is formed is the front surface, the firstchamber rear surface 103 will be positioned on the opposite side.

The first chamber bottom surface 101 may be provided therein with an airsupply port 1011 and a steam supply port 1012, through which the air,which is dehumidified and heated by the heat pump unit 230, and thesteam, which is created by the steam unit 250, in the second chamber 200are supplied to the first chamber 100, and an air intake port 1013,through which the air in the first chamber 100 is sucked by means of theblower unit 220.

As illustrated in FIG. 1 , the air supply port 1011 and the steam supplyport 1012 may be provided in the region at which the first chamberbottom surface 101 meets the first chamber rear surface 103. Here, theregion at which the first chamber bottom surface 101 meets the firstchamber rear surface 103 may be smoothly inclined. The air intake port1013 may be positioned on the first chamber bottom surface 101 close tothe inlet 120. Consequently, the air in the first chamber 100 isdischarged through the air supply port 1011, and is sucked into thefirst chamber 100 through the air intake port 1013, thereby forming acirculating flow. Meanwhile, the steam in the first chamber 100 is alsodischarged through the steam supply port 1012 and condensed, and thecondensed steam is sucked into the first chamber 100 through the airintake port 1013 and collected in a sump (not shown) for storing thecondensed water therein.

In order to more efficiently guide the condensed water in the firstchamber 100 toward the second chamber 200 through the air intake port1013, the first chamber bottom surface 101 may be inclined downwardstowards the inlet 120 from the first chamber rear surface 103.

As illustrated in FIG. 1 , the laundry treatment apparatus 2000 mayinclude a water supply tank 310, configured to supply water to the steamunit 250, and a water discharge tank 330, configured to store thereinthe condensed water discharged from the sump (not shown), both of whichare provided at the front side of the second chamber 200. Furthermore, atank module frame (not shown) configured to define a tank-mounting space(not shown), in which the water supply tank 310 and the water dischargetank 330 are mounted, may be provided in order to isolate thetank-mounting space (not shown) from the second chamber 200. In otherwords, the tank-mounting space 351 and the second chamber 200 arepositioned below the first chamber 100, the tank-mounting space may bepositioned close to the door 400, and the second chamber 200 may bepositioned behind the tank-mounting space.

The water supply tank 310 and the water discharge tank 330 may berespectively and detachably coupled to the tank module frame (notshown). Alternatively, the water supply tank 310 may be integrallycoupled to the water discharge tank 330, and may thus be detachablycoupled to the tank module frame together with the water discharge tank330.

The door 400 may include a door inner plate 401, which is positioned onthe rear surface of the door 400 or on the surface of the door 400 thatfaces the first chamber 100 when the door 400 is closed. The door 400may be hingedly and rotatably connected to the cabinet 150 so as to openand close the inlet 120.

The front surface of the water supply tank 310 and the front surface ofthe water discharge tank 330 may face the door inner plate 401 when thedoor 400 is closed by a user, and may be exposed to the outside when thedoor 400 is opened by the user. Because the water supply tank 310 has awater supply tank window 313 formed in the front surface thereof and thewater discharge tank 330 has a water discharge tank window 333 formed inthe front surface thereof, it is possible to check the levels of thewater stored in the water supply tank 310 and the water discharge tank330.

The front surface of the water supply tank 310 may be provided with awater supply tank handle 315, and the front surface of the waterdischarge tank 330 may be provided with a water discharge tank handle335. When a user pulls the water supply tank handle 315 or the waterdischarge tank handle 335, the water supply tank 310 or the waterdischarge tank 330 may be rotated about an end of the front surfacethereof, and may be separated from the tank module frame (not shown).When the water supply tank 310 or the water discharge tank 330 ismounted in the tank module frame (not shown), the water supply tank 310or the water discharge tank 330 may be mounted in the tank module frame(not shown) while being rotated.

In the conventional laundry treatment apparatus 2000, the door innerplate 401 or the inside of the first chamber 100 may be provided with alaundry hanger support 405, on which a laundry hanger 403 includinginverted pants P hung thereon is hung, and a presser 50 configured topress the pants P, which are held by the laundry hanger support 405 andthe laundry hanger 403.

The reason why the pants P are hung in the state in which the bottomhems of the pants P are positioned upwards is to uniformly spread thepants P using the tensile force resulting from the weight of the pants Pbecause the weight of the pant waist portion of the pants P is heavierthan the pant leg part of the pants P.

The presser 50 may include a support plate 51, which is coupled to thedoor inner plate 401 so as to support the laundry, and a rotating plate52, which is rotatable toward the support plate 51 so as to press thepants P. When the rotating plate 52 is rotated toward the support plate51 and is coupled thereto, it is possible to press the pants P.Thereafter, when the door 400 is closed, the pants P are steamed anddehumidified and are exposed to heated air, thereby removing wrinkles.Here, the rotating plate 52 may have a rotating plate through hole 54formed therethrough in order to allow steam to easily permeate the pantsP, and may further have a depressed portion 55, which is formed in thesurface of the rotating plate 52 that comes into contact with the pantsP, in order to prevent the seams of pants P, which are provided in thelongitudinal direction of the leg parts of the pants P, from beingpressed.

Referring to FIG. 2 , the second chamber 200 may be provided thereinwith the blower unit 220, configured to suck air in the first chamber100, the steam unit 250 configured to receive water from the watersupply tank 310 to thus generate steam and to supply the steam to thefirst chamber 100, and the heat pump unit 230, configured to dehumidifyand heat the air that is sucked by the blower unit 220 and to dischargethe air into the first chamber 100. Furthermore, the second chamber 200may be provided therein with a controller (not shown) configured tocontrol the blower unit 220, the steam unit 250, and the heat pump unit230.

The steam unit 220 may be provided in order to sterilize and deodorizethe laundry disposed in the first chamber 100 and to remove wrinklesfrom the laundry, and the blower unit 220 and the heat pump unit 230 maybe provided in order to circulate the air in the first chamber 100 andto dehumidify the air through heat exchange. In addition, the controllermay control a press unit 500, which will be described later.

The controller may control the rotation of rollers 530, 570 and 670,which will be described later. Furthermore, the controller may controlthe reciprocating movement of the laundry support 190 (see FIG. 1 ).

In order to supply the dehumidified and heated air to the first chamber100, the air in the first chamber 100 is sucked through an inlet duct221 using suction force generated by a blower fan 226. Subsequently, theair is transmitted to the heat pump unit 230 and heat-exchanged therein,and is again supplied to the first chamber 100.

Referring to FIG. 2 , the blower unit 220 may include the blower fan 226and the inlet duct 221. Assuming that the direction in which the inlet120 is positioned is referred to as a forward direction and thedirection in which the rear surface of the first chamber 100 ispositioned is referred to as the backward direction, the inlet duct 221may be provided in front of the blower fan 226, and the tank moduleframe (not shown) may be provided in front of the inlet duct 221.Accordingly, the tank module frame may isolate the tank-mounting space351 from the second chamber 200.

The water supply tank 310 and the water discharge tank 330, which aremounted on the tank module frame (not shown), may be positioned close toone lateral side surface of the cabinet 150, among the two lateral sidesurfaces of the cabinet 150. For example, the water supply tank 310 maybe positioned in the tank-mounting space (not shown) closer to the rightlateral side surface than to the left lateral side surface of thecabinet 150, whereas the water discharge tank 330 may be positioned inthe tank-mounting space (not shown) closer to the left lateral sidesurface than to the right lateral side surface of the cabinet 150.

Like the water supply tank 310, the steam unit 250 may also bepositioned in the second chamber 200 closer to the right lateral sidesurface than to the left lateral side surface of the cabinet 150. Thereason for this is to simplify the connecting passage between the watersupply tank 310 and the steam unit 250, along which water flows, bypositioning the steam unit 250 behind the water supply tank 310.

The steam unit 250 may heat the water disposed in the steam unit 250 togenerate steam using a heater, and the generated steam may flow along asteam passage (not shown) to the steam supply port 1012, which isprovided on the bottom surface 101 of the first chamber 100.

If the water supply tan 310 is positioned closer to the left lateralside surface than to the right lateral side surface of the cabinet 150,the steam unit 250 may also be positioned closer to the left lateralside surface than to the right lateral side surface of the cabinet 150.

The inlet duct 221 may include an inlet duct inlet 2213, whichcommunicates with the air intake port 1013 formed in the bottom surface101 of the first chamber 100 and through which the air in the firstchamber 100 is sucked. The inlet duct inlet 2213 may define a slopedpassage. The reason for this is to enable the condensed water formed inthe first chamber 100 and on the door 400 to easily flow to the sump(not shown) provided in the lower portion of the inlet duct 221 throughthe inlet duct inlet 2213 and along the sloped passage.

The inlet duct 221 may be positioned in front of the blower fan 226, andthe steam unit 250 and the heat pump unit 230 may be positioned behindthe blower fan 226. The heat pump unit 230 may be supported by asupporter 265. The supporter 265 may be provided on a base 210, whichdefines the bottom of the second chamber 200. Accordingly, the supporter265 may provide a predetermined distance between the base 210 and theheat pump unit 230, and a predetermined mounting space may be definedbetween the support 265 and the base 210. The steam unit 250 may bepositioned in the mounting space, and may be coupled to the supporter265 in the mounting space. Although FIG. 2 illustrates an embodiment inwhich the controller 270 is positioned bellow the steam unit 250 in themounting space defined by the supporter 265, the controller 270 maypositioned at any location, such as behind the steam unit 250 or in thesecond chamber 200.

The heat pump unit 230 may include a housing 231, which accommodatestherein a first heat exchanger (or an evaporator, not shown) and asecond heat exchanger (or a condenser, not shown), and an air dischargeoutlet 2312, which communicates with the air supply port 1011 providedin the first chamber 100 in order to discharge the dehumidified andheated air to the first chamber 100 from the housing 231. A compressor(not shown) and an expansion valve, which are configured to circulaterefrigerant, may be positioned outside the supporter 265.

Unlike those shown in FIG. 2 , the blower unit 220 may circulate the airin the first chamber 100, and the evaporator and the condenser may beprovided in the duct, through which the air, circulated by the blowerunit 220, flows. In other words, the blower unit may composed of theinlet duct 221, the blower fan 226, a connecting duct (corresponding tothe housing shown in FIG. 2 ), and an exhaust duct (corresponding to theair discharge outlet shown in FIG. 2 ), and the heat pump unit mayinclude the evaporator and the condenser, which are provided in theconnecting duct, and the compressor and the expansion unit, which areprovided outside the blower unit 220.

Referring to FIG. 3 , the door 400 may include the door inner plate 401,which is the surface of the door 400 that faces the first chamber 100, adoor gasket 486, which is provided on the door inner plate 401 in thestate of being in tight contact with the peripheral portion of thecabinet 150 so as to form sealing between the door 400 and the cabinet150, and door liners 482 and 484, which are provided on the door innerplate 401 so as to guide the condensed water created in the firstchamber 100 toward the first chamber bottom surface 101. In someembodiments, the door 400 may be configured to simultaneously open andclose the first chamber 100 and the tank-mounting space 352. In anotherembodiment, a plurality of doors may be mounted on the cabinet 150 so asto respectively open and close the first chamber 100 and thetank-mounting space 351. The door liners 482 and 484 may be configuredto face the first chamber 100 when the door 400 is closed, and mayinclude an upper door liner 482 and a lower door liner 484. The doorliners 482 and 484 may discharge the condensed water, which is generatedon the surfaces of the door liners 482 and 484, to the sump (not shown),provided below the inlet duct, through the air intake port 1013 formedin the bottom surface 101 of the first chamber.

The door gasket 486 may be mounted on the door inner plate 401 so as tosurround the door inner plate 401. The seal between the door 400 and thecabinet 150 may be established by the door gasket 486. The door gasket486 may seal the first chamber 100 and the tank-mounting space (notshown), in which the water supply tank 310 and the water discharge tank330 are mounted, from each other.

Referring to the example of the presser 50 shown in FIG. 1 , therotating plate 52 may be rotated toward the support plate 51 on whichthe pants P are disposed. The rotating plate 52 may be rotated to pressthe pants P about a rotational coupler (not shown), for example, ahinge, which is provided on one surface of the rotating plate 52. Aregion of the rotating plate 52 close to the rotational coupler maycontinue to press the pants P until the rotating plate 52 is completelyrotated to face the support plate 51, that is, until the other surfaceof the rotating plate 52 is coupled to the support plate 51.

Accordingly, uniform pressure is not applied to the pants P while therotating plate 52 is rotated. At this point, because higher pressure isapplied to a region of the pants P close to the rotational couplerwhereas lower pressure is applied to a region of the pants P far fromthe rotational coupler, there is a problem in which the pants P are notuniformly pressed.

Furthermore, there may be a problem in which the held shape of the pantsP is deformed or the pants P are displaced in position because the pantsP are pushed by the rotating plate 52 while the pants P are pressed bythe rotating plate 52. Therefore, the conventional laundry treatmentapparatus 2000 may have a problem in which more wrinkles are generatedor creases are formed in a direction other than the intended direction.

Furthermore, because the pants P are simply hung on the laundry hangersupport 405 (see FIG. 1 ) rather than being held, there is a problemwhereby it is impossible to prevent the position of the pants P fromchanging during pressing.

When the pants P are suspended in the state of being spread across thelength of the door inner plate rather than being folded, a user maysuffer inconvenience because the laundry hanger support 405 (see FIG. 1) is high. In addition, because the pants P occupies almost the entirearea of the door inner plate 401, there is a problem whereby theavailability of the door inner surface 401 is deteriorated.

In order to press the pants P using the presser 50, remove wrinkles, andefficiently form intended creases, the steam unit 250, the blower unit220, and the heat pump unit 230, which are provided in the secondchamber 200, must be activated. The reason for this is because adedicated steam generator for the presser 50 is not provided with an airheater. This means that the entire laundry treatment apparatus 2000 mustbe necessarily operated in order to press the pants P using the presser50. Furthermore, when the laundry disposed in the first chamber 100 iscompletely refreshed before using the presser 50, there is inconveniencein which the presser 50 must be used after taking the refreshed laundryout of the first chamber 100.

In addition, the rotational direction of the rotating plate 52 must bechanged depending on whether a user is right-handed or left-handed.Accordingly, there is inconvenience in that the rotating plate 52 mayneed to be separated and reassembled when the user changes.

FIG. 3 illustrates a laundry treatment apparatus 1000 according to anembodiment of the present disclosure in which an embodiment of a pressunit 500, which is different from the presser 50 of the conventionallaundry treatment apparatus configured to remove wrinkles in the pantsP, is illustrated. The feature of the present disclosure is to propose anovel press unit that overcomes the above-mentioned problems.

Specifically, the laundry treatment apparatus 1000 according to thepresent disclosure includes the cabinet 150 having the inlet 120 formedin one surface thereof, the first chamber 100, which is positioned inthe cabinet 150 and receives therein laundry through the inlet 120, thesecond chamber 200, which is positioned below the first chamber 100 andis separated from the first chamber 100, the door 400, which isrotatably coupled to the cabinet 150 so as to open and close the inlet120, the door inner plate 401, which is the surface of the door 400 thatfaces the first chamber 100, the laundry hanger support 405, which isprovided on the door inner plate 401 and on which the pants P are hung,and a roller-type press unit 500, which is coupled to the door innerplate 401 so as to hold and press the laundry.

The press unit 500 may include a base plate 510, configured to supportthe pants P hung on the laundry hanger support 405, a rotating shaft536, provided in the width direction of the door 400, a roller 530,which is rotated about the rotating shaft 536 and presses the pants P,and a moving unit 550, which supports the rotating shaft 536 and movesthe rotating shaft 536 and the roller 530 in the height direction of thedoor 400. Furthermore, the laundry treatment apparatus 1000 may includea drive unit 540 (see FIG. 5 ), which is provided at the roller 530 andthe moving unit 550 so as to rotate the roller 530.

Rather than simply pressing laundry while being passively rotated bymovement of the moving unit 550, as in the conventional laundrytreatment apparatus, the roller 530 not only elastically presses thelaundry while being actively rotated by the drive unit 540 but alsopresses the laundry using the rotative force of the drive unit 540. Inother words, the roller 530 may be rotated while pressing the laundrydisposed on the base plate 510.

When the roller 530 is actively rotated while pressing the laundry, themoving unit 550 may be passively moved by the rotation of the roller530. In other words, by means of the drive unit configured to rotate theroller 530, the rotation of the roller 530 and the movement of themoving unit 550 may be performed simultaneously.

The roller 530 may be shaped such that, based on the width direction ofthe door, the middle portion of the roller 530 may have a diameter lessthan that of the two end portions of the roller 530. The reason for thisis to avoid a stitch line portion of pants, which is thicker than thefabric of the leg part of pants and to provide a space into which steamis sprayed such that the steam uniformly permeates the fabric of thepants P. Furthermore, the reason for this is to prevent the steam frombeing sprayed only in a direction opposite the direction in which steamis sprayed toward laundry through the roller 530 because the pressure insteam spray holes 5331 formed in the side of the roller 530 that facethe laundry is higher than the pressure in steam spray holes 5331 formedin the opposite side of the roller 530.

In other words, the roller 530 may be configured to have a shape similarto that of a dumbbell. Specifically, the outer circumferential surfaceof a region of the roller 530, which corresponds to a predeterminedlength in the longitudinal direction of the rotating shaft 536 or in thewidth direction of the door 400, may have a diameter less than that ofthe two ends of the roller 530. The reason for this is to provide aspace that avoids stitch lines that are positioned at the center line ofsuspended pants and into which steam is sprayed.

Referring to FIG. 2 , the second chamber 200 may be provided thereinwith the blower unit 220 configured to suck air in the first chamber100, the steam unit 250 configured to receive water to thus generatesteam and to supply the steam to the first chamber 100, and the heatpump unit 230 configured to dehumidify and heat the air sucked by theblower unit 220 and to discharge the air to the first chamber 100.Furthermore, the second chamber 200 may be provided therein with thecontroller (not shown) configured to control the blower unit 220, thesteam unit 250, and the heat pump unit 230.

The steam unit 220 may be provided so as to sterilize and deodorize thelaundry disposed in the first chamber 100 and to remove wrinkles fromthe laundry, and the blower unit 220 and the heat pump unit 230 may beprovided so as to circulate the air in the first chamber 100 anddehumidify the air through heat exchange.

The steam unit 250 may be used to refresh the laundry disposed in thefirst chamber 100. The press unit 500 shown in FIG. 3 may include asteam generation tank 580 (see FIG. 8 ), which is operated independentlyof the steam unit 250. Furthermore, the press unit 500 may include aheater 535 (see FIG. 8 ) configured to heat the pants P, in place of theblower unit 220 and the heat pump unit 230. Accordingly, it is possibleto minimize the amount of steam required to remove wrinkles from thepants P disposed on the press unit 500, compared to the case in whichthe entire first chamber 100 is fully filled with steam. In addition,because it is possible to intensively apply heat only to the pants P, itis possible to save energy, compared to the case of dehumidifying andheating the entire air in the first chamber 100. In other words, it ispossible to independently refresh the pants P using only the press unit500 without activating the blower unit 220, the steam unit 250, or theheat pump unit 230, which are provided in the second chamber 200.

In this case, a user is able to remove wrinkles from only the pants Pdisposed on the press unit 500 and to clearly form intended creases, andthe laundry treatment apparatus 1000 may provide the user with anadditional management course for removal of wrinkles and formation ofcreases such that the user can select the course. In addition, it ispossible to remove wrinkles from the pants P disposed on the press unit500 by operating only the press unit 500 even when the door 400 isopened. In the conventional apparatus, in order to press only the pantsP disposed on the presser 50, the laundry treatment apparatus 2000 mustbe operated after refreshed laundry is taken out of the first chamber100, the pants P are disposed alone on the presser 50, and the door 400is closed. Accordingly, the present disclosure is capable of overcomingthis inconvenience.

In addition, because the conventional laundry treatment apparatus 2000is constructed such that the presser 50 is rotated about only one sidethereof to press pants, the conventional laundry treatment apparatus2000 must be designed such that the presser 50 is rotatable about eitherof the two sides of the presser 500 to realize a reversible design. Thereversible design is intended to allow the rotational direction of thepresser to be changed depending on whether a user is right-handed orleft-handed. However, because the press unit 500 is movable in theup-and-down direction of the door 400, there is no need to considerwhether a user is right-handed or left-handed at the design stage.

The laundry hanger support 405 is used in a manner such that pants P arehung on the laundry hanger 403 and then the hook of the laundry hanger403 is hung on the laundry hanger support 405. Because the laundryhanger support 405 is configured such that a lug, such as a hook,projects toward the first chamber 100 from the door inner plate 401, thelaundry hanger 403 may be hung on the projecting lug. The laundry hanger403 may be a typical pants hanger, and may hold the hems of the legparts of the pants P in the state in which the leg parts are folded inforward and backward directions. Here, the pants P may be folded suchthat a clearly folded and intended crease, for example, a front creaseof a bottom of a uniform or a bottom of a suit, is positioned at oneside and a seam (or a stitch line) of the leg part of the bottom ispositioned at the center, and may be held by the laundry hanger 403.Thereafter, the pants P may be hung on the laundry hanger support 405.

Accordingly, the roller 530 may be configured so as to be depressed at aportion thereof corresponding to the seams of the pants P rather thanhaving a cylindrical form having a constant diameter such that theclearly folded and intended creases are pressed by the roller 530 butthe seams are not pressed by the roller 530.

Because the hems of the pants P are held by the laundry hanger 403, auser hangs the pants P in the inverted state. Here, the waist portion ofthe pants P excluding the leg parts, that is, the portion between thewaist line and the lower end of the hip portion, which is called a“rise”, is typically heavier than the leg parts. Accordingly, when thepants P are suspended in the inverted and extended state, tensile forcemay be applied throughout the pants P due to the self-weight of thepants P. When tensile force is applied to the pants P, the pants P maybe pulled in the height direction of the door 400 or in the longitudinaldirection of the pants P.

The door 400 may be rotatably coupled to the cabinet 150 so as to openand close the inlet 120. To this end, the door 400 may include afastening member such as a hinge unit (not shown). The door 400 may becomposed of a single plate. The embodiment of the door 400 shown in FIG.3 may include a door outer plate 4111 including an outer surface of thedoor 400, which is positioned far away from the first chamber 100, thedoor inner plate 401 including an inner surface of the door 400 which ispositioned so as to face the first chamber 100, and a side surface 4112connecting the door inner plate 401 to the door outer plate 4111. Theouter surface of the door 400 may be provided with a display (not shown)configured to receive a selection signal from a user and to output theresult and associated information. Wires (not shown) for connection topower and transmission of control signals may be disposed between thedoor inner plate 401 and the door outer plate 4111. The press unit 500may be coupled to the door inner plate 401.

The door 400 may include the door inner plate 401 facing the firstchamber 100, and a rear surface 4011, which is the one among the twosurfaces of the door inner plate 401 that is farther away from the inlet120. When the door 400 is opened, although the door inner surface 401 isexposed to the outside, the rear surface 4011 is not exposed to theoutside because the rear surface 4011 is one of the surfaces definingthe interior space in the door 400. Furthermore, the door inner plate401 may include the rear surface 4011, which is positioned far away fromthe inlet 120, and an inner exposed surface, which is positioned closeto the inlet 120.

The door inner plate 401 may include the door gasket 486 configured toform a seal between the door 400 and the cabinet 150, and the doorliners 482 and 484, which are provided on the door inner plate 401 so asto guide condensed water, which is generated in the first chamber 100when the door 400 is closed, to the first chamber bottom surface 101. Insome embodiments, the door 400 may be configured to simultaneously openand close the first chamber 100 and the tank-mounting space 351. Inanother embodiment, a plurality of doors may be mounted on the cabinet150, and the doors may respectively open and close the first chamber 100and the tank-mounting space 351. The door liners 482 and 484 may beprovided so as to face the first chamber 100 when the door 400 isclosed, and may include the upper door liner 482 and the lower doorliner 484. The door liners 482 and 484 may discharge condensed water,which is generated on the surfaces of the door liners 482 and 484, tothe sump (not shown) disposed below the inlet duct through the airintake port 1013 provided in the first chamber bottom surface 101.

The door gasket 486 may be mounted on the door inner plate 401 so as tosurround the door inner surface 401. The seal between the door 400 andthe cabinet 150 may be established by the door gasket 486. The doorgasket 486 may also separately seal the first chamber 100 and thetank-mounting space (not shown) in which is the water supply tank 310and the water discharge tank 330 are mounted.

The base plate 510 may be coupled to the door inner plate 401 so as tosupport the pants P hung on the laundry hanger support 405. The baseplate 510 may be coupled to the door inner plate 401 in the state ofbeing spaced apart from the door inner plate 401. To this end, anelastic support (not shown) having elasticity may be positioned betweenthe base plate 510 and the door inner plate 401. When the roller 530presses the pants P toward the door inner plate 401, the elastic supportmay support the base plate 510 in order to bring the pants P intouniform and close contact with the base plate 510.

The upper portion and the lower portion of the base plate 510 may becurved. The upper portion of the base plate 510 refers to the portion ofthe base plate 510 that is closer to the laundry hanger support 405 thanto a laundry holder 420, which will be described later, and the lowerportion of the base plate 510 refers to the portion of the base plate510 that is closer to the laundry holder 420 than to the laundry hangersupport 405. The upper portion of the base plate 510 may support the hemportions of the pants P, whereas the lower portion of the base plate 510may support the waist portion of the pants P.

In the pants P supported by the base plate 510, the portion of the pantsP that is pressed by the roller 530 is the leg parts of the pants P.Because the waist portion of the pants P is provided with a zipper, awaist pocket and the like, it is difficult to press the waist portionusing the roller 530, and moreover it is unnecessary to press the waistportion. Accordingly, because the laundry holder 420 is coupled to thelower portion of the door inner plate 401 and presses and holds oppositesides of the waist portion of the pants P, which are suspended in aninverted state, the laundry holder 420 may not interfere with the roller530, which presses the leg parts of the pants P. Particularly, becausethe roller 530 removes wrinkles using steam or moisture and presses thepants P, it is possible to form a clearly formed and intended crease,for example, front creases in the pants P.

The remaining middle portion of the base plate 510 excluding the upperportion and the lower portions thereof may be positioned parallel to thedoor inner plate 401. Accordingly, the middle portion of the base plate510 may be parallel to the portion of the door inner plate 401 thatcorresponds to the middle portion, and the upper and lower portions ofthe base plate 510 may be curved, and may thus become close to the doorinner plate 401.

When the base plate 510 is viewed from a lateral side, the distancebetween the door inner plate 401 and the base plate 510, which ismeasured in a direction perpendicular to the door inner plate 401, mayincrease toward the middle portion from the upper portion of the baseplate 510. Furthermore, the distance between the door inner plate 401and the base plate 510 may increase toward the middle portion from thelower portion of the base plate 510. The reason for this is to moreefficiently apply tensile force to the pants P. The laundry hangersupport 405 may be positioned on the door inner plate 401, and downwardtensile force may be applied to the pants P suspended from the laundryhanger support 405. Accordingly, in comparison with the case in which ofthe base plate 510 is flat, because the contact length and the contactarea between the base plate 510 and the pants P increase in the case inwhich the base plate 510 is curved, the base plate 510 may be in closercontact with the pants P, thereby improving the effect of applyingtensile force to the pants P.

Because the middle portion of the base plate 510 is maximally convex andthe distance between the base plate 510 and the door inner plate 401 ina direction perpendicular to the door inner plate 401 decreases movingdownwards, that is, toward the lower portion of the base plate 510 fromthe middle portion, the pants P may drop from the base plate 510. Inorder to prevent the pants P from dropping, the door 400 may furtherinclude the laundry holder 420, which is coupled to the door inner plate401 and holds opposite sides of the waist portion of the suspended pantsP. The laundry holder 420 may convey an effect of pulling the pants P inorder to prevent opposite sides of the pants P from being spaced apartfrom the base plate 510. Consequently, by virtue of the laundry holder420, tensile force may be applied to the pants P.

The laundry holder 420 may include a first laundry holder 421 configuredto hold one side of the waist portion of the pants P and a secondlaundry holder 422 configured to hold the other side of the waistportion of the pants P. Here, the one side and the other side of thewaist portion of the pants P mean opposite sides of the waist portion ofthe pants P in the state in which the leg parts are folded such that theseams (or stitch lines) of the leg parts are positioned at the centersof respective leg parts and the pants P are held by the laundry hanger403.

Here, because the laundry holder 420 holds the opposite sides of thesuspended pants P, the pants P may come into contact with the base plate510 even when the pants P extend close to the lower end of the baseplate 510 beyond the middle portion of the base plate 510. The laundryholder 420 may be configured to have a clamp structure in order to holdthe opposite sides of the pants P. Alternatively, the laundry holder 420shown in FIG. 3 may be configured to have the form of an angled beam.The laundry holder 420 may be coupled to the door inner plate 401, andmay hold opposite sides of the pants P in the state in which the pants Pare loosely inserted into the laundry holder 420. In other words, thelaundry holder 420 is intended to prevent the pants P from coming intocontact with the base plate 510 and being moved in rightward andleftward directions.

FIG. 4(a) illustrates the press unit 500 in an enlarged view. The pressunit 500 may include the base plate 510 configured to support the pantsP hung on the laundry hanger support 405, the rotating shaft 536disposed in the width direction of the door 400, the roller 530, whichis rotatable about the rotating shaft 536 and presses the pants P, andthe moving unit 550, which is configured to support the rotating shaft536 and to move the rotating shaft 536 and the roller 530 in thevertical direction of the door 400.

The roller 530 may include a first cylindrical press portion 531, whichis positioned close to one end of the roller 530 and presses the pantsP, a second cylindrical press portion 532, which is positioned close tothe other end of the roller 530 and presses the pants P, and acylindrical moisture supply 533, which is positioned between the firstpress portion 531 and the second press portion 532 so as to connect thefirst press portion 531 to the second press portion 532 and whichsupplies moisture to the pants P.

The roller 530 may be constructed such that the first press portion 531and the second press portion 532, which press the pants P, and themoisture supply 533 are integrally formed. Accordingly, when the driveunit 540 (see FIG. 5 ) rotates the roller 530, the first press portion531, the second press portion 532, and the moisture supply 533 may berotated therewith.

Here, the roller 530 receives moisture from the moisture supply 533 andpresses the pants P while pulling the pants P by means of the firstpress portion 531 and the second press portion 532, which is useful forremoval of wrinkles and formation of clear creases.

Although the roller 530 may be made of any of a metal material, a woodmaterial and a plastic material, it is preferable that the roller 530 bemade of a metal material. In order to press laundry using the roller 530and apply heat to the laundry using a heater in the manner of an iron,as will be described later, the roller 530 is preferably made of a metalmaterial in consideration of hardness and thermal conductivity.

The roller 530 may include a roller body 5301 defining the appearancethereof, the first press portion 531 positioned close to one end of theroller body 5301, the second press portion 532 positioned close to theother end of the roller body 5301, and the moisture supply 533, which ispositioned between the first press portion 531 and the second pressportion 532 so as to connect the first press portion 531 to the secondpress portion 532 and supplies moisture to the pants P.

The roller 530 may be rotatable about the rotating shaft 536, which isdisposed in the width direction of the door 400. The roller 530 mayfurther include the moving unit 550, configured to move the roller 530in the longitudinal direction of the door 400.

The diameter of the moisture supply 533 may be smaller than the diameterof the first press portion 531 and the second press portion 532. In anembodiment of the moisture supply 533 shown in FIG. 4(a), the outercircumferential surface of the moisture supply 533 may be providedtherein with the plurality of steam spray holes 5331 for spraying steam.

When steam is sprayed through the plurality of steam spray holes 5331,the steam may permeate the pants P, which are pressed by the roller 530.Because the press unit 500 may include the steam generation tank 580(see FIG. 8 ), which is provided in the moisture supply 533 and suppliessteam, in addition to the steam unit 250 configured to spray steam tothe laundry disposed in the first chamber 100, the press unit 500 may beaccommodated in the first chamber 100, and may be operated independentlyof supply of steamed and/or dehumidified and heated air. In other words,it is possible to spray steam and apply heat to the suspended pants Pwhile only the roller 530 is moved without operating the steam unit 250,the blower unit 220, or the heat pump unit 230, which are accommodatedin the second chamber 200. For example, the press unit 500 may convey aneffect like that which is obtained when a user uses a steam iron on anironing board in order to remove wrinkles from the pants P.

If the diameter of the moisture supply 533 is equal to the diameter ofthe first press portion 531 or the second press portion 532, themoisture supply 533 may press the pants P to the same extent as that bythe first press portion 531 or the second press portion 532. Here,because some of the plurality of steam spray holes 5331 that are incontact with the pants P are clogged by the pants P, steam may bedischarged through those among the plurality of steam spray holes 5331that are positioned opposite the some of the plurality of steam sprayholes 5331 that re in contact with the pants P. Hence, it is impossibleto spray steam to the pants P. In order to prevent this, the diameter ofthe moisture supply 533 may be smaller than the diameter of either ofthe first press portion 531 and the second press portion 532.

The regions of the pants P that correspond to the moisture supply 533may be provided with seams or stitch lines. Pressing the seams or thestitch lines may cause warping of the pants P and thus formation ofdouble creases. In order to avoid this problem, the diameter of themoisture supply 533 may be smaller than the diameter of either of thefirst press portion 531 and the second press portion 532.

Referring to an embodiment of the roller 530 shown in FIG. 4(a) and FIG.4(b), the two ends of the roller 530 may be connected to the rotatingshaft 536. The rotating shaft 536 provided at the two ends of the roller530 may support the roller 530 via the moving unit 550.

Specifically, the rotating shaft 536 may include a first rotating shaft5361 coupled to one end of the roller 530 and a second rotating shaft5362 coupled to the other end of the roller 530.

The door 400 may further include guide holes 415, which are formed inthe vertical direction of the door 400. The moving unit 550 may includea first transfer portion 5501 coupled to the first rotating shaft 5361and a second transfer portion 5502 coupled to the second rotating shaft5362, and the guide holes 415 may include a first guide hole 4151, whichis positioned between one side surface of the base plate 510 and theside surface of the door 400 that is positioned close to the one sidesurface of the base plate 510, and a second guide hole 4152, which ispositioned between the other side surface of the base plate 510 and theother side surface of the door 400, which is positioned close to theother side surface of the base plate 510.

The first transfer portion 5501 may be movable in the vertical directionof the door 400 along the first guide hole 4151 when the roller 530 isrotated, and the second transfer portion 5502 may be reciprocable in avertical direction (in the direction of the arrow) along the secondguide hole 4152 when the roller 530 is rotated.

FIG. 4(c) illustrates an embodiment of the press unit 500 when viewedfrom a lateral side. The door 400 may include the door inner surface401, the rear surface 4011 of the door inner surface 401 positioned faraway from the inlet 120, and the door outer plate 4111 coupled to therear surface 4011 so as to define a mounting space 4115.

In other words, the door 400 may not be composed of a single plate butmay be an assembly in which multiple panels are coupled to each other.Specifically, the door 400 may include the door inner plate 401positioned so as to face the inlet 120 and the door outer plate 4111,positioned far away from the inlet 120. The door inner plate 401 and thedoor outer plate 4111 may define therein a predetermined mounting space4115.

The mounting space 4115 may be provided therein with an electric wire,which is connected to the controller (not shown) so as to transmit andreceive a control signal or supply power. The mounting space 4115 may beprovided therein with a power supply 559 (see FIG. 6(a)) for rotation ofthe roller 530. Furthermore, the mounting space 4115 may be providedtherein with a guide 440 (see FIG. 10(a), which is configured to controlan insertion depth to which the moving unit 550 is moved along the guidehole to thus control the distance between the roller 530 and the movingunit 550. The reason why the power supply 559 (see FIG. 6(a)) or theguide 440 (see FIG. 10(a) is provided in the mounting space 4115, thatis, the interior space in the door 400, is to maximally prevent thepower supply 559 (see FIG. 6(a)) from being exposed to moisture uponsupply of steam in the first chamber 100 or via the roller 530 and tomount the guide 440 (see FIG. 10(a)) in the mounting space 4115 in thedoor to provide a neat finished appearance.

Referring to FIG. 4(c), when the roller 530 is rotated in a firstrotation direction, for example, in a clockwise direction, whilepressing the pants P, the roller 530 may be moved upwards. To this end,the rotating shaft 536 rotatably supporting the roller 530 and themoving unit 550 supporting the rotating shaft 536 may be respectivelyprovided at the two ends of the roller 530. The moving unit 550 may bemoved along the guide hole 415 in the vertical direction of the door400. Here, a portion of the moving unit 550 may be inserted into theguide hole 415. In order to prevent the moving unit 550 from beingseparated from the guide hole 415, the moving unit 550 may include awheel 554, which is oriented in the width direction of the door 400 andis wider than the width of the guide hole 415. Specifically, the wheel554 may be configured as a small caster such that the moving unit 550 ismovable along the guide hole 415. Accordingly, the moving unit 550 maybe smoothly movable along the guide hole 415 in the vertical directionof the door 400 with reduced friction.

Although the moving unit 550 may be movable along the guide hole 415 bymeans of an additional drive device, the moving unit 550 according tothe embodiment may be passively moved due to rotation of the roller 530.In other words, the moving unit 550 may be moved upwards when the roller530 is rotated in a first rotational direction and may be moveddownwards when the roller 530 is rotated in a second rotationaldirection, opposite the first rotational direction, without using anadditional drive device.

Here, the roller 530 may be rotated on the base plate 510 while pressingthe pants P. An elastic member 552 (see FIG. 9 ) may be provided betweenthe roller 530 and the moving unit 550 so as to bias the roller 530toward the base plate 510. Accordingly, even when the rotation of theroller 530 is halted, the roller 530 may be maintained in at a currentposition thereof while pressing the pants P without slipping on thepants P.

In other words, the moving unit 550 may be moved along the guide hole415 in one direction among upward and downward directions when theroller 530 is rotated in the first rotational direction, and may bemoved along the guide hole 415 in the direction opposite the onedirection when the roller 530 is rotated in a second rotationaldirection opposite the first rotational direction. When the roller 530is stopped, the moving unit 550 may also be stopped.

In practice, the moving unit 550 may be moved in the vertical directionof the door 400 by virtue of rotation of the roller 530, and may servemerely to guide the roller 530 along the guide hole 415.

Referring to FIG. 4(c), the base plate 510 may be configured such thatthe distance D1 between the door inner plate 401 and the base plate 510in a direction perpendicular to the door inner plate 401 increasesmoving toward the middle portion from the upper portion of the baseplate 510, as described above. Although the position of the moving unit550, which is moved along the guide hole 415 formed in the door innerplate 401, may not vary, the position of the roller 530, which is movedon the base plate 510, may vary. Accordingly, the distance between theroller 530 and the moving unit 55 may increase toward the middle portionfrom the upper portion of the base plate 510. At this time, because theroller 530 is elastically biased toward the base plate 510 due to theelastic member 552 (see FIG. 9 ), which is positioned between the roller530 and the moving unit 550, the roller 530 may press the pants P.

FIG. 5(a) is a perspective view of the moving unit 550, which isinserted into the guide hole 415 formed through the door inner plate 401when viewed from a lateral side. FIG. 5(b) is a view of the moving unit550 when viewed from a lateral side. Referring to FIG. 5(a), the door400 may not be composed of a single plate but may be an assembly inwhich multiple panels are assembled with each other. The door 400 mayinclude the door inner plate 401, which is positioned so as to face theinlet 120. Furthermore, the door 400 may include the rear surface 4011,which is positioned far away from the inlet 120.

The guide hole 415 may be formed through the door inner plate 401. Theguide hole 415 may be configured to have a rectangular shape, in whichthe length thereof in the vertical direction of the door 400 (in thedirection of the arrow) is greater than the length thereof in the widthdirection of the door 400. The moving unit 550 may be moved along theguide hole 415 in the vertical direction of the door 400 when the roller530 is rotated. When rotation of the roller 530 is halted, the roller530 may be maintained in the current position.

In order for the roller 530 to press the pants P, the longitudinallength of the guide hole 415, along which the moving unit 550 is moved,may be almost equal to that of the base plate 510. However, because thelaundry holder 420 holds the opposite sides of the waist portion of thepants P, the roller 530 is capable of moving over the length of the baseplate 510, so the length of the guide hole 415 may be less than thelength of the base plate 510.

Referring to FIG. 5(a) and FIG. 5(b), the moving unit 550 may include amoving mount 553, a portion of which is inserted into the guide hole 415and which is moved in the vertical direction of the door 400, and amoving support 551, which is coupled to the moving mount 553 andsupports the rotating shaft 536.

The moving unit 550 may further include the wheel 554, which ispositioned parallel to the width direction of the door 400 and iscoupled to the side of the moving mount 553 that is inserted into theguide hole 415. Because the length of the wheel 554 is greater than thelength of the guide hole 415 in the width direction, it is possible toprevent the moving unit 550 from being separated from the guide hole415.

The moving unit 550 may further include the elastic member 552 (see FIG.9 ), which is positioned between the moving support 551 and the movingmount 553 so as to provide external force that is required in order forthe roller 530 to press the pants P.

The roller 530 may receive power via the power supply 559 (see FIG. 6 )provided on the rear surface 4011. Because the roller 530 is exposed tothe humidity on the door inner plate 401, the roller 530 may be disposedon the rear surface 4011 in order to prevent the power supply 559 (seeFIG. 6 ) from being exposed to the humidity.

When power is supplied to the power supply 559 (see FIG. 6 ), the roller530 is capable of rotating about the rotating shaft 536. The drive unit540 configured to rotate the roller 530 may include a motor. The driveunit 540 may be provided at a position M1 of the moving support 551 or aposition M2 of the moving mount 553. The drive unit 540 may beconstructed such that the motor directly rotates the roller 530. Thedrive unit 540 may further include a planet gear assembly or a pulleyassembly, in addition to the motor. The drive unit 540 may be arrangedin any manner, as long as the arrangement is capable of rotating theroller 530 at a predetermined speed. The drive unit 540 may be providedonly at one end of the roller 530 or at both ends of the roller 530.When the drive unit 540 is provided both at both ends of the roller 530,there may be need to synchronize the rotational speed of the drive unit540. The drive unit 540 may be controlled by the controller (not shown)provided in the laundry treatment apparatus 1000.

The roller 530 may be pressed not only by elasticity but also by therotative force of the drive unit 540 while being actively rotated by thedrive unit 540.

The wheel 554 may be coupled to the side of the moving mount 553 that isinserted into the guide hole 415. The wheel 554 may include a wheelshaft 5543, which is positioned parallel to the width direction of thedoor 400, and a wheel rotator 5544, which is coupled to the wheel shaft5543 so as to allow the moving unit 550 to be smoothly moved along theguide hole 415 by reducing frictional force with the rear surface 4011.

The wheel 554 may include an upper wheel 554 a and a lower wheel 554 b,which are respectively coupled to the upper portion and the lowerportion of the moving mount 553 in order to stably support the movingmount 553 via the rear surface 4011. Each of the upper wheel 554 a andthe lower wheel 554 b may include the wheel shaft 5543 and the wheelrotator 5544.

FIGS. 6(a) to 6(c) illustrate the guide hole 415 and the power supply559 when viewed from the rear surface 4011. Referring to FIG. 6(a), whenthe rotating shaft 536 includes a first rotating shaft 5361 coupled toone end of the roller 530 and a second rotating shaft 5362 coupled tothe other end of the roller 530, the moving unit 550 may include thefirst transfer portion 5501 coupled to the first rotating shaft 5361 andthe second transfer portion 5502 coupled to the second rotating shaft5362, and the guide hole 415 may include the first guide hole 4151,which is positioned between one side surface of the base plate 510 andthe side surface of the door 400 that is positioned close to the onesurface of the base plate 510, and the second guide hole 4152, which ispositioned between the other side surface of the base plate 510 and theother side surface of the door 400, which is positioned close to theother side surface of the base plate 510.

The power supply 559 may receive power from a machine compartment 200.Specifically, the power supply 559, which is provided in the door 400,and the machine compartment 200 may be connected to each other via anelectric wire disposed in a communication hole, which is formed in thehinge portion of the door 200 or the edge of the door 200, where thedoor 200 meets the cabinet 150. Accordingly, even when the door 200 isopened, the electric wire is hidden from the outside for aestheticpurposes.

The first transfer portion 5501 may be movable along the first guidehole 4151 in the vertical direction of the door 400 when the roller 530is rotated, and the second transfer portion 5502 may be reciprocatedalong the second guide hole 4152 in the vertical direction of the door400 (in the direction of the arrow) when the roller 530 is rotated.

Here, the wheel 554 may include a first wheel 5541 coupled to the firsttransfer portion 5501 and a second wheel 5542 coupled to the secondtransfer portion 5502. Each of the first wheel 5541 and the second wheel5542 may include a first upper wheel 5541 a and a second lower wheel 554b. Each of the first upper wheel 5541 a and the second lower wheel 554 bmay include the wheel shaft 5543, which is positioned parallel to thewidth direction of the door 400 and the wheel rotator 5544, which iscoupled to the wheel shaft 5543 so as to allow the moving unit 550 to besmoothly moved along the guide hole 415 with reduced friction with therear surface 4011.

The rear surface 4011 may be provided with the power supply 559,configured to supply power to the roller 530. In other words, it ispossible to supply power, required for rotation of the roller 530, viathe mounting space 4115 in the door 400.

In summary, the laundry treatment apparatus 1000 may include the cabinet150 having the inlet 120 formed in one surface thereof, the firstchamber 100, which is positioned in the cabinet 150 so as to receivelaundry therein through the inlet 120, the second chamber 200, which ispositioned below the first chamber 100 and defines a space separatedfrom the first chamber 100, the door 400, which has the mounting space4115 therein and which is rotatably coupled to the cabinet 150 so as toopen and close the inlet 120, the door inner plate 401 facing the inlet120, the laundry hanger support 405, which is provided on the door innerplate 401 and on which the pants P are hung, the base plate 510, whichis coupled to the door inner plate 401 so as to support the pants Psuspended from the laundry hanger support 405, the guide hole 415, whichis oriented in the vertical direction of the door 400 parallel to thebase plate 510 and which is formed through the door inner plate 401 in adirection perpendicular both to the vertical direction and to the widthdirection of the door 400, the rotating shaft 536, which is disposedparallel to the width direction of the door 400, the roller 530, whichis rotatable about the rotating shaft 536 and presses the pants P, themoving unit 550, which supports the rotating shaft 536 and moves therotating shaft 536 and the roller 530 along the guide hole 415 in thevertical direction of the door 400, and the power supply 559, which isdisposed in the mounting space 4115 and supplies power to the roller530.

Referring to FIGS. 6(b) and 6(b) which respectively illustrate the firsttransfer portion 5501 and the second transfer 5502 in FIG. 6(a) inenlarged views, the power supply 559 may include a wire 5590, which ispositioned along the guide hole 415 in the vertical direction of thedoor 400. When the guide hole 415 includes the first guide hole 4151 andthe second guide hole 4152 at the two ends of the roller 530, the wire5590 may include a first wire 5591 and a second wire 5592, which arerespectively disposed along the first guide hole 4151 and the secondguide hole 4152.

For example, the first wire 5591 and the second wire 5592 may berespectively disposed along the first guide hole 4151 and the secondguide hole 4152 so as to be parallel to each other. The first wire 5591may be disposed adjacent to the side surface of the first guide hole4151 that is positioned far away from one side surface of the door closeto the first guide hole 4151 in the vertical direction of the firstguide hole 4151. Meanwhile, the second wire 5592 may be disposedadjacent to the side surface of the second guide hole 4152 that ispositioned far away from the other side surface of the door close to thesecond guide hole 4151 in the vertical direction of the second guidehole 4152.

In other words, the first wire 5591 and the second wire 5592 may berespectively disposed along the first guide hole 4151 and the secondguide hole 4152 to as to be parallel to each other like rails.

Accordingly, the power supply 559 may supply power required not only forrotation of the roller 530 by the drive unit 540 but also for generationof moisture and/or steam from the moisture supply 533 and heating of theouter circumferential surface of the roller 530 by a first heater 5351and a second heater 5352, through the first wire 5591 and the secondwire 5592 from the power supply 559.

The moving mount 553 may include a moving contact 558 to be connected tothe wire 5590, which is disposed on a mount body lower surface 5573,which is the surface of the moving mount on which the wheel 554 ispositioned. The moving contact 558 may be configured to have a pin form,and may be made of a highly conductive material or an alloy thereof suchas aluminum or copper, having high electrical conductivity.

When the wheel 554 is composed of the upper wheel 554 a and the lowerwheel 554 b, the moving contact 558 may be positioned between the upperwheel 554 a and the lower wheel 554 b for stable contact. The currentthat flows through the moving contact 558 may be transmitted to thedrive unit 540 for rotation of the roller 530. The current may also beused in the generation of steam and heating of the roller 530, whichwill be described later.

Negative current ((−) current) and positive current ((+) current) may berespectively connected to the first wire 5591 and the second wire 5592.Alternatively, positive current ((+) current) and negative current ((−)current) may also be respectively connected to the first wire 5591 andthe second wire 5592. The roller 530 may be electrically connected tothe first wire 5591 and the second wire 5592 so as to form a singlecircuit, and the circuit may be supplied with direct current. Althoughalternating current may also be used, it is desirable to use directcurrent in consideration of the size of the drive unit relative to thediameter of the roller and required torque.

The wire 5590 may be sheathed by a coating member made of an insulationmaterial, and the coating member may be partially removed in thevertical direction of the door 400 such that the portion of the wire5590 that is in contact with the moving contact 558 is exposed.

FIG. 6(a) illustrates the roller 530, which is positioned at the upperend of the guide hole 415. The position may be the initial position ofthe roller 530. An input unit may be positioned on the front surface ofthe door 400 for selection of operational courses so as to allow a userto select a course for operation of the press unit 500. The frontsurface of the door 400 may refer to the surface of the door 400 that isexposed when the door 40 closes the inlet 120.

The position at which the roller 530 is positioned prior to theoperation of the press unit 500 may be set as an initial position. Theinitial position may be the upper end of the guide hole 415. The reasonfor this is because the incorrect generation of creases such as doublecreases is reduced in the case in which the roller 530 is reciprocatedin the vertical direction of the door 400 from the lower ends of the legparts of the pants P than in the case in which the roller 530 isreciprocated in the vertical direction of the door 400 from the waistportion of the pants P.

When a predetermined period of time for the course that is selected by auser lapses, the roller 530 may return to the initial position and stop.The reason for this is to eliminate the need to preferentially rearrangethe roller 530 to the initial position before every use because thefinal position of the roller 530 varies at every termination of use.

Referring to FIGS. 6 and 9 , it will be appreciated that components thatperform the same function are positioned close to one side and the otherside of the door 400. In other words, the guide hole 415 may include thefirst guide hole 4151 and the second guide hole 4152. Furthermore, thewire 5590 may include the first wire 5591 and the second wire 5592.Furthermore, the moving unit 550 may include the first transfer portion5501 and the second transfer portion 5502 so as to respectivelycorrespond to the first guide hole 4151 and the second guide hole 4152.Furthermore, the moving contact 558 may include a first contact 5581 anda second contact 5582, and the wheel 554 may include the first wheel5541 and the second wheel 5542. The moving mount 553 may include a firsttransfer mount 5531 and a second transfer mount 5532, and a moving mountbody 557 may include a first transfer mount body 5571 and a secondtransfer mount body 5572. The moving support 551 may include a firsttransfer support 5511 and a second transfer support 5512. In otherwords, components having the same function may be symmetricallydisposed.

Accordingly, although only one set of components among the components ofthe guide hole 415, the components of the wire 4490, the components ofthe moving unit 550, the components of the moving contact 558, thecomponents of the wheel 554, the components of the moving mount 553, thecomponents of the moving mount body 557 or the components of the movingsupport 551 may be described in this specification, the other sets ofcomponents may have the same function, and may be formed symmetricallywith the one set of the components.

FIG. 7 illustrates the roller 530 when viewed from above. The roller 530may include the roller body 5301 defining the appearance of the roller530, a first press 531 positioned close to one end of the roller body5301, a second press 532 positioned close to the other end of the rollerbody 5301, and the cylindrical moisture supply 533, which is positionedbetween the first press 531 and the second press 532 so as to connectthe first press 531 to the second press 532 and supplies moisture to thepants P.

The roller 530 may be rotated about the rotating shaft 536, which isoriented in the width direction of the door 400. The roller 530 mayinclude the moving unit 550 configured to enable the roller 530 to bemoved in the longitudinal direction of the door 400.

Referring to an embodiment of the moisture supply 533 shown in FIG. 7 ,the moisture supply 533 may have a plurality of steam spray holes 5331through which steam is sprayed to the outer circumferential surface ofthe moisture supply 533.

When steam is sprayed through the plurality of steam spray holes 5331,the steam may permeate the pants P, which are in the state of beingpressed by the roller 530. Furthermore, because the moisture supply 533may be provided therein with the steam generation tank 580 (see FIG. 8 )for the supply of steam, in addition to the steam unit 250 configured tospray steam to the laundry disposed in the first chamber 100, the pressunit 500 may be disposed in the first chamber 100, and may be operatedindependently of the supply of steamed and/or dehumidified and heatedair. In other words, it is possible to spray steam and apply heat to thesuspended pants P while only the roller 530 is moved without operatingthe steam unit 250, the blower unit 220, or the heat pump unit 230,which are received in the second chamber 200. For example, the pressunit may convey an effect obtained when a user uses a steam iron on anironing board in order to remove wrinkles.

Here, if the diameter of the moisture supply 533 is equal to thediameter of the first press 531 or the second press 532, the moisturesupply 533 may press the suspended pants P to the same extent as theextent to which the first press 531 or the second press 532 presses thepants P. Here, because some of the plurality of steam holes 5331 thatare in contact with the pants P are clogged by the pants P, steam may bedischarged through others of the plurality of steam spray holes 5331,which are positioned opposite the some of the steam holes 5331. In thiscase, because it is impossible to achieve the object of spraying steamto the pants P, the diameter of the moisture supply 533 may be smallerthan the diameter of any of the first press 531 and the second press 532in order to overcome this problem.

The regions of the pants P corresponding to the moisture supply 533 mayhave seams or stitch lines. Pressing the seams or the stitch lines maycause warping of the pants P and formation of double creases. Therefore,in order to prevent these problems, the diameter of the moisture supply533 may be smaller than the diameter of any of the first press 531 andthe second press 532.

The roller 530 may be configured to have a shape similar to that of adumbbell. In other words, the outer circumferential surface of a regionof the roller 530, which corresponds to a predetermined length in thelongitudinal direction of the rotating shaft 536 of the roller 530 or inthe width direction of the door 400, may have a diameter less than thatof the two ends of the roller 530. The reason for this is to provide aspace that avoids stitch lines, which are positioned at the center lineof suspended pants P and into which steam is sprayed.

The predetermined length may be Wr in FIG. 7 . The roller 530 mayinclude the moisture supply 533 in the region corresponding to thepredetermined length Wr.

However, the shape of the roller 530 and the shape of the moisturesupply 533 shown in FIG. 7 are only for illustrative purposes, and theroller 530 and the moisture supply 533 may have other shapes as long asthey remain capable of spraying steam. For example, the diameter of themoisture supply 533 may be equal to the diameter of the first press 531or the second press 532. In this case, the steam spray holes 5331, whichare formed in the outer circumferential surface of the roller 530, whichhas a constant diameter, may be depressed radially inwards in order toensure space into which to spray steam. In other words, the entireregion of the moisture supply 533 is not depressed, and only the regionsof the individual steam spray holes 5331 may be depressed. Also in thiscase, the portion of the outer circumferential surface of the roller 530that corresponds to the stitch lines in the pants P may be depressedradially inwards in order to avoid interference with the stitch lineswhen the roller 530 presses the pants P. In other words, a V-shaped orU-shaped notch may be formed in the center of the outer circumferentialsurface of the roller 530 in order to prevent interference with thestitch lines.

The drive unit 540 configured to drive the roller 530 may be provided atone end of the roller 530. Alternatively, the drive unit 540 may beprovided at any other position on the roller 530 as long as the driveunit 540 is capable of rotating the roller 530. FIG. 7 illustrates anembodiment in which the first transfer portion 5501 and the secondtransfer portion 5502 are coupled to the two ends of the roller 530. Thedrive unit 540 may be positioned in the first transfer portion 5501 orthe second transfer portion 5502. For example, the drive unit 540 may bepositioned at M1 or M2, and may generate rotative force required torotate the roller 530 using power received from the power supply 559 viathe moving contact 558.

The moisture supply 533 may be composed of a first moisture supply body533 a and a second moisture supply body 533 b, which are coupled to eachother. Furthermore, at least one of the first moisture supply body 533 aor the second moisture supply body 533 b may be separated from orcoupled to the roller 530 or the roller body 5301. The reason for thisis to ensure attachment and detachment of the steam generation tank 580(see FIG. 8 ), which may be positioned in the moisture supply 533.

In other words, the moisture supply 533 may include the first moisturesupply body 533 a including a tank introduction port 120, through whichthe steam generation tank 580 is inserted into and separated from theinside of the moisture supply 533, and a second moisture supply body 533b coupled to the tank introduction port 120. It is preferable that thefirst moisture supply body 533 a and the second moisture supply body 533b be coupled to each other with low friction.

FIG. 8(a) illustrates an embodiment in which the first heater 5351, thesecond heater 5352, and a steam heater 5353 are provided in the roller530. As described above, the roller 530 is not intended merely to pressthe pants P. For efficient removal of wrinkles and efficient formationof intended creases, the roller 530 may spray steam while transmittingheat to the pants P.

For spraying steam, the moisture supply 533 may include the steamgeneration tank 580, which is positioned in the moisture supply 533 anddischarges generated steam, the steam heater 5353, which is positionedin the steam generation tank 580 and heats the water stored in the steamgeneration tank 580, and the plurality of steam spray holes 5331 (seeFIG. 7 ), which are formed throughout the outer circumferential surfaceof the moisture supply 533 in order to spray the steam, which isgenerated by the steam heater 5353 and is discharged from the steamgeneration tank 580, to the pants P.

The roller 530 may further include a tank connector 539 configured toallow the steam generation tank 580 to be coupled to one of the firstpress 531 and the second press 532 and the moisture supply 533 and to beseparated therefrom.

Consequently, the distance between the steam generation tank 580 and thesteam spray holes 5331 may be reduced, and the steam generation tank 580may be detachably received in the roller 530 like a cartridge.Accordingly, it is possible to further simplify and shorten the flowpassage compared to the case in which a water supply tank or asubsidiary tank is externally provided in order to supply water.Furthermore, because steam is sprayed only to the suspended pants P, itis possible to reduce the amount of steam that is required compared tothe case in which steam is supplied throughout the first chamber 100.

The roller 530 may include a blocker configured to prevent the steambetween the first press 531 and the moisture supply 533 and between thesecond press 532 and the moisture supply 533 from being dischargedthrough the plurality of steam spray holes 5331 (see FIG. 7 ) and fromleaking into the first press 531 and the second press 532. A firstblocker 5371 may be positioned between the first press 531 and themoisture supply 533, and a second blocker 5372 may be positioned betweenthe second press 532 and the moisture supply 533. The first blocker 5371and the second blocker 5372 may be made of metal film or plastic film.

One of the first blocker 5371 and the second blocker 5372 may beprovided with the tank connector 539 so as to be coupled to or separatedfrom the steam generation tank 580.

Referring to FIG. 8(c), the steam generation tank 580 may include asteam generation tank body 583, and may further include a first cover581 and a second cover 582 which close the two ends of the steamgeneration tank body 583. Furthermore, the steam generation tank 580 mayinclude a first terminal 5851 and a second terminal 5852, which areelectrically connected to one of the first cover 581 and the secondcover 582. These may have shapes similar to terminals provided at anelongate fluorescent tube, which are fitted into a socket. When thefirst terminal 5851 and the second terminal 5852 are connected to thetank connector 539, which has a socket shape corresponding to the firstterminal 5851 and the second terminal 5852, the steam generation tank583 may be electrically connected to the tank connector 539 so as toactivate the steam heater 5353, for example, a heater provided in thesteam generation tank 580.

Unlike the steam generation tank 580, which is removably coupled to thetank connector like a kind of cartridge, the steam generation tank 580may be connected to a water supply pipe, which receives water from theexternally provided water supply tank 310 (see FIG. 1 ). Accordingly,the controller (not shown) may supply water through the water supplypipe when there is a need to supply water to the steam generation tank580.

The steam heater 5353 may convert electricity into heat, and may boilthe water stored in the steam generation tank 580 to generate steam. Thegenerated steam may be discharged through steam dischargers 5811 and5812, which are provided at the first cover or the second cover, and mayin turn be discharged to the outside through the plurality of steamspray holes 5331, thereby being sprayed to the pants P.

The heater may be preferably composed of a coiled heater or a sheathheater. However, the heater may be embodied as any other kind of heater,as long as the heater is capable of heating the water stored in thesteam generation tank 580. For example, the heater may include aninverter-type coil. In the case in which a steam generation pipe ratherthan the steam generation tank is provided, the steam generation pipemay be connected to the water supply tank 310 (see FIG. 1 ), which isexternally provided, such that the water is heated so as to generatesteam while the water flows through the steam generation pipe.

The tank connector 539 may be rotated in a direction opposite therotational direction of the roller 530. The reason for this is toimmerse the steam heater 5353 into the water stored in the steamgeneration tank 580. The tank connector 539 may be embodied as acombination of gears. Alternatively, the steam generation tank 580 maybe configured so as to be freely rotated in the roller 530. Here, thesteam generation tank 580 may be oriented in the direction of gravitydue to the weight of the water stored in the steam generation tank 580,regardless of rotation of the roller 530. However, the steam heater 5353may be provided on the inner circumferential surface of the steamgeneration tank 580, and the steam generation tank 580 may be rotatedtogether with the roller 530.

Furthermore, design may be made so that the amount of water stored inthe steam generation tank 580 always remain sufficient to immerse thesteam heater 5353 in the water.

The roller 530 may further include the heater 535 configured to transmitheat to the pants P to thus heat the pants P. The heater 535 may includethe first heater 5352 configured to heat the first press 531 and thesecond heater 5352 configured to heat the second press 532. The heater535 may be electrically connected to the steam heater 5353. The reasonfor this is for heater 535 to be electrically connected to the firstwire 5591 and the second wire 5592.

The first heater 5351 may be provided in a coiled form along the innercircumferential surface of the first press. When the first heater 5351is in contact with the inner circumferential surface of the first press531, heat may be most efficiently transmitted. Alternatively, the firstheater 5351 may be positioned in the first press 531 such that the heatemitted from the first heater 5351 heats the first press 531 in athermal radiation manner.

The second heater 5352 may be provided in a coiled form along the innercircumferential surface of the second press 532. When the second heater5352 is in contact with the inner circumferential surface of the secondpress 532, heat may be most efficiently transmitted. Alternatively, thesecond heater 5352 may be positioned in the second press 532 such thatthe heat emitted from the second heater 5352 heats the second press 532in a thermal radiation manner. The second heater 5352 may performheating in any manner, as long as it is possible to heat the secondpress 532 to thus transmit the heat to the pants P.

Considering that the first press 531 and the second press 532 areheated, it is desirable that the roller body 5301 be made of a metalmaterial.

Referring to FIG. 8(a), the first heater 5351 and the second heater 5352may be electrically connected, and the steam heater 5353 may dependentlyreceive power via the moving unit. However, in consideration of economicefficiency, the first heater 5351, the second heater 5352, and the steamheater 5353 may be electrically and integrally connected to one another,as illustrated in FIG. 8(b). This is only an illustrative example, andthe first heater 5351, the second heater 5352, and the steam heater 5353may be electrically connected to one another in another manner so as toheat the first press 531 and the second press 532 and discharge steamthrough the moisture supply 533.

In place of a moisture supply 533 configured to spray steam through thesteam spray holes 5331, the moisture supply 533 may include amoisture-containing porous portion 5332 (not shown) wound around theouter circumferential surface of the moisture supply 533. The diameterof the outer circumferential surface of the moisture-containing portion5332 may be equal to or greater than the diameter of the first press 531and the second press 532, such that, when the roller 530 presses thepants P, the moisture-containing portion 5332 is squeezed, and thus themoisture contained therein is discharged to the outside.

However, because the steam permeates throughout the pants P due to theability of the steam to permeate laundry even when the steam is sprayedonly to a portion of the pants P, it is more desirable to spray steamusing the steam spray holes 5331 and the steam generation tank 580 thanusing the moisture-containing portion.

FIG. 9 illustrates embodiments of the moving support 551 and the movingmount 553 in an enlarged view. The moving unit 550 may include themoving mount 553, which is partially inserted into the guide hole 415and is moved in the vertical direction of the door 400, and the movingsupport 551 coupled to the moving mount 553 so as to support therotating shaft.

Referring again to FIG. 9(a), the moving unit 550 may further includethe wheel, which is positioned parallel to the width direction of thedoor 400 and is coupled to the mount body lower surface 5573, which isthe surface of the moving mount 553 that is inserted into the guide hole415.

The moving unit 550 may further include the elastic member 552, which ispositioned between the moving support 551 and the moving mount 553 so asto provide elasticity such that the roller body 5301 presses the pantsP.

Referring to FIG. 9(b), the moving unit 550 may include the moving mountbody 557, which receives a portion of the moving support 551, and asupport hole 5576, which is formed in the moving mount body 557 so as toopen toward the first chamber 100 and exposes the remaining portion ofthe moving support 551 to the outside. The elastic member 552 may beaccommodated in the moving mount body 557 so as to elastically connect aportion of the moving support 551 to the moving mount body 557.

For example, when the distance between the base plate 510 and the guidehole 415 in a perpendicular direction gradually increases, the distancebetween the roller 530 and the moving unit 550 may also increase.Specifically, the distance between the moving support 551 supporting theroller 530 and the moving mount may increase. In order to accommodatethe distance variation, the elastic member 552 may be provided betweenthe moving support 551 and the moving mount 553. Accordingly, when thedistance between the roller 530 and the moving unit 550 increases, theelastic force caused by the elastic member 552 is exerted in theopposite direction, whereby the roller 530 presses the pants P disposedon the base plate 510.

Meanwhile, when the distance between the base plate 510 and the guidehole 415 in the perpendicular direction gradually decreases, thedistance between the roller 530 and the moving unit 550 may decrease.Specifically, the distance between the moving support 551 supporting theroller 530 and the moving mount 553 may decrease. Accordingly, when thedistance between the roller 530 and the moving unit 550 decreases, theelastic force caused by the elastic member 552 is exerted in theopposite direction, whereby the roller 530 does not press the pants Pdisposed on the base plate 510.

Using this principle, it is possible to cause the roller 530 to press orto release the pants P by controlling the distance between the baseplate 510 and the door inner plate 401, the distance between the baseplate 510 and the guide hole 415 formed in the door inner plate 401 orthe distance between the guide 440, which will be described later, andthe base plate 510. When there is a parallel arrangement of the baseplate 510 and the door inner plate 401, the base plate 510 and the guidehole 415, or the guide 440 and the base plate 510, with a constantdistant therebetween, the roller 530 may press the pants P with aconstant force.

Referring to FIG. 11(c), the elastic member 552 may be accommodated inthe moving mount 553. The moving mount 553 may include the moving mountbody 557 defining the appearance of the moving mount 553. The movingmount body 557 may include the mount body lower surface 5573, which isinserted into the guide hole 415, a mount body upper surface 5573positioned opposite the mount body lower surface 5573, and a mount bodyside surface 5575, which connects the mount body upper surface 5574 tothe mount body lower surface 5573 to define an internal spacetherebetween. The mount body side surface 5575 may be fully or partiallyinserted into the guide hole 415 depending on the distance between thebase plate 510 and the door inner plate 401, the distance between thebase plate 510 and the guide hole 415 formed in the door inner plate401, or the distance between the guide 440 and the base plate 510.

The moving support 551 may include a first support body 551 a, which isinserted into the moving mount 553 and is connected to the elasticmember 552, and a second support body 551 b, which is connected to thefirst support body 551 a so as to support the rotating shaft 536 and theroller 530.

The mount body upper surface 5574 may have a support hole 5576 formedtherethrough. A portion of the moving support 551 may be received in themoving mount body 557 through the support hole 5576, and the remainingportion of the moving support 551 may project outwards from the supporthole 5576, and may be connected to the rotating shaft 536.

The elastic member 552 may connect the portion of the moving support 551that is received in the moving mount body 557 to the mount body uppersurface 5574. Accordingly, when the distance between the moving support551 and the moving mount 553 increases, the portion of the movingsupport 551 that is received in the moving mount body 557 may projectoutwards through the support hole 5576. Accordingly, because the elasticmember 552 is compressed so as to push the moving support 551 in theopposite direction, the roller 530 may press the pants P disposed on thebase plate 510.

In other words, when the first support body 551 a is moved in thedirection of the support hole 5576 and the roller 530 is moved far awayfrom the moving unit 550 by the second support body 551 b, the roller530 may press the pants P by virtue of the elastic force of the elasticmember 552.

To this end, the laundry treatment apparatus 1000 may include thecabinet 150 having the inlet 120 formed in a surface thereof, the firstchamber 100, which is positioned in the cabinet 150 and receives laundrythrough the inlet 120, the second chamber 200, which is positioned belowthe first chamber 100 and defines a space separated from the firstchamber 100, the door 400 rotatably coupled to the cabinet 150 so as toopen and close the inlet 120, the door inner plate 401 positioned on thesurface of the door 400 that faces the first chamber 100, the laundryhanger support 405, which is provided on the door inner plate 401 and onwhich the pants P are hung, the base plate 510, which is coupled to thedoor inner plate 401 in the state of being spaced apart from the doorinner plate 401 so as to support the pants P hung on the laundry hangersupport 405, the guide hole 415 formed through the door inner plate 401in the vertical direction of the door 400 and in a directionperpendicular both to the vertical direction and to the width directionof the door 400, the rotating shaft 536 positioned parallel to the widthdirection of the door 400, the roller 530, which is rotatable about therotating shaft 536 and presses the pants P, the moving unit 550, whichmoves the roller 530 along the guide hole 415 while the roller 530 isrotated, and the elastic member 552, which is positioned in the movingunit 550 and is connected to the rotating shaft 536 so as to applyelastic force to the roller 530 toward the base plate 510 to press thepants P and to support the rotating shaft 536.

The position of the elastic member 552 will now be described in detailwith reference to FIG. 9(c). The moving support 551 may include thefirst support body 551 a, which is received in the moving mount 553 andis connected to the elastic member 552, and the second support body 551b, which is connected to the first support body 551 a and supports therotating shaft 536. The moving mount 553 may include the moving mountbody 557 accommodating the first support body 551 a therein, the mountbody upper surface 5574 formed in the surface of the moving mount body557 that faces the first chamber 100 for communication of the inside ofthe moving mount body 557 with the first chamber 100, and the supporthole 5576 formed through the mount body upper surface 5574 so as toallow the first support body 551 a to project outwards from the movingmount body 557. Here, the elastic member 552 may be positioned betweenthe mount body upper surface 5574 and the first support body 551 a.

Although the elastic member 552 may be positioned at any position aslong as the elastic member 552 connects the moving support 551 to themoving mount 553, the elastic member 552 is preferably positioned in themoving mount 553 so as to realize a neat appearance and to minimizeexposure to moisture.

The base plate 510 may merely be positioned parallel to the door innerplate 401 so as to always maintain a predetermined facing distancetherebetween. Here, the elastic member 552 may always apply elasticforce to the roller 530 to press the pants P.

The facing distance may be the distance between the base plate 510 andthe door inner plate 401, or may be the distance between the door innerplate 401 and a point at which an imaginary line, which extendsperpendicularly from the door inner plate 401, intersects the base plate510. When the base plate 510 includes a curved surface, for example,when the intermediate portion of the base plate 510 is configured to beflat parallel to the door inner plate 401 so as to maintain apredetermined facing distance therebetween whereas the upper and lowerportions of the base plate 510 are curved toward the door inner plate401, it is possible to vary the facing distance between the base plate510 and the door inner plate 401. In other words, when the roller 530moves on the base plate 510 and the moving unit 550 moves along theguide hole 415 formed in the door inner plate 401 in the verticaldirection of the door 400, the facing distance between the base plate510 and the door inner plate 401 may vary and the distance between theroller 530 and the moving unit 550 may also vary. Specifically, thedistance between the first support body 551 a and the mount body uppersurface 5574 may vary. Consequently, the length of the elastic member552 positioned between the first support body 551 a and the mount bodyupper surface 5574 may vary.

Here, the distance or the perpendicular distance means the distancebetween an arbitrary point of an object and a point of another object atwhich an imaginary line, which extends from the arbitrary point in adirection perpendicular both to the vertical direction and to the widthdirection of the door 400, meets the another object.

When the length of the elastic member 552 increases beyond the originallength, that is, when the distance between the base plate 510 and thedoor inner plate 401 increases, the elastic force applied to the roller530 may gradually increase. Accordingly, when the roller 530 on the baseplate 510 is moved toward the intermediate portion of the base plate510, the pressure applied to the pants P may gradually increase. Becausethe intermediate portion of the base plate 510 is spaced apart from thedoor inner plate 401 by a predetermined spacing distance, the roller 530may press the pants P with a constant force. The spacing distance meansa predetermined distance by which the base plate 510 is spaced apartfrom the door inner plate 552 such that the roller 530 presses the pantsP by means of the elastic member 552. Accordingly, the distance may varydepending on the design.

Accordingly, because the elastic member 552 is positioned between themount body upper surface 5574 and the first support body 501 a, it ispossible to apply force to the roller 530 in the direction of the baseplate 510 when the distance between the door inner plate 401 and thebase plate 510 is equal to or greater than a predetermined distance.

Because the distance between the base plate 510 and the door inner plate401 decreases again moving toward the lower portion of the base plate510, the force applied to the pants P by the roller 530 will decrease.The reason for this is because there is no need to press the lowerportion of the base plate 510 because the lower portion of the baseplate 510 corresponds to the waist portion of the pants P.

Accordingly, in the case in which the base plate 510 is designed so asto have a curved surface, it is possible to control the force applied tothe pants P by the roller 530 while efficiently applying tensile forceto the pants P as described above.

When the perpendicular distance between the base plate 510 and the guidehole 415 gradually increases, the distance between the roller 530 andthe moving unit 550 increases. Specifically, the distance between themoving support 551 supporting the roller 530 and the moving mount 553increases. The elastic member 552, which is capable of accommodating thedistance variation, may be provided at the moving support 551 and themoving mount 553. Accordingly, when the distance between the roller 530and the moving unit 550 increases, the elastic force of the elasticmember 552 is exerted in the opposite direction, whereby the roller 530is capable of pressing the pants P disposed on the base plate 510.

Meanwhile, when the distance between the base plate 510 and the guidehole 415 gradually decreases, the distance between the roller 530 andthe moving unit 550 will decrease. Specifically, the distance betweenthe moving unit 551 supporting the roller 530 and the moving mount 530will decrease. Accordingly, when the distance between the roller 530 andthe moving unit 550 decreases, the elastic force from the elastic member552 is applied in the opposite direction, whereby the roller 530 doesnot press the pants P disposed on the base plate 510.

Therefore, it is preferable to design the base plate 510 having thecurved surface using this mechanism. FIGS. 10 and 11 illustrate variousembodiments of the guide 440 having a curved surface. Furthermore, it ispossible to obtain a similar effect not only in the case in which thebase plate 510 is designed to have a curved surface but also in the casein which the guide hole 415 in the door inner plate is designed to havea curved surface.

Referring to FIGS. 10(a) and 10(b), a support surface 515 of the baseplate 510, which is the surface that is positioned far away from thedoor inner plate and faces the roller 530, among the two surfaces of thebase plate 510, and that supports the pants P, may be curved.Furthermore, in order to make the guide hole 415 curved, it is possibleto include the guide 440, which is positioned on the rear surface 4011so as to control the distance between the roller 530 and the moving unit550 by controlling the distance to the base plate 510. A guide surface4401 of the guide 440 that is in contact with the wheel 554, may becurved.

In other words, the door 400 may include the door inner plate 401, therear surface 4011, which is the surface of the door inner plate 401 thatis positioned far away from the inlet 120, the guide 440 coupled to therear surface 4011 so as to define the mounting space 4115, and the guide440, which is positioned on the rear surface 4011 so as to control thedistance between the roller 530 and the moving unit 550 by controllingthe distance to the base plate 510.

The base plate 510 may include the support surface 515 supporting thepants P. The support surface 515 may include a first support surface5151, which is positioned at the upper portion thereof and is curved,and a second support surface 5152, which is positioned below the firstsupport surface and extends parallel to the door inner plate 401. Thedistance between the guide 440 and the first support surface 5151 mayincrease moving toward the second support surface 5152. The distancebetween the door inner plate 401 and the second support surface 5152 maybe maintained constant. The reason for this is to enable the roller 530to press the pants P with constant force while maintaining the distancebetween the door inner plate 401 and the first support surface 5151constant.

The base plate 510 may further include a third support surface 5153,which is positioned at the lower portion of the support surface 551 soas to be connected to the second support surface 5152 and is curved. Thedistance between the door inner plate 401 and the third support surface5153 may decrease moving away from the second support surface 5152.

In other words, it is possible to control the distance between theroller 530 and the moving unit 550 depending on the distance between thebase plate 510 and the guide 440.

The portion connecting the first support surface 5151 to the secondsupport surface 5151 and the portion connecting the second supportsurface 5152 to the third support surface 5153 may be convex so as tosmoothly connect the curved surface to the flat surface.

Similarly, the guide 440 may also be curved. Here, the guide surface4401 of the guide 440, which is in contact with the wheel 554 so as toguide the wheel 554, may also be curved. The guide 440 may be embodiedas a guide rail. In this case, the guide surface 4401 of the guide rail,which is in contact with the wheel 554, may be curved.

Because the guide 440 is positioned on the rear surface 4011 and is thusdisposed in the interior space of the door 400, the guide 440 may not beexposed to the outside. The distance between the moving unit 550 and theroller 530 may be controlled by controlling only the depth to which themoving unit 550 is inserted into the guide hole 415. The moving unit 550may come into contact with the guide 440 via the wheel 554.

The guide 440 may include a first guide surface 4411, which ispositioned so as to correspond to the first support surface 5151 and toface the first support surface 5151 in the state of being parallelthereto, and a second guide surface 4412, which is positioned so as tocorrespond to the second support surface 5152 and to face the secondsupport surface 5152 in the state of being parallel thereto and which isconnected at one end thereof to one end of the first guide surface 4411.The guide 440 may further include a third guide surface 4413, which ispositioned so as to correspond to the third support surface 5153 andwhich extends from the second guide surface 4412 parallel to the doorinner plate 401.

Consequently, the base plate 510 may include the first support surface5151, the second support surface 5152, and the third support surface5153, which are sequentially curved, flat, and curved, from the upperportion to the lower portion of the door inner plate 401. The guide 440may include the first guide surface 4411, the second guide surface 4412,and the third guide surface 4413, which sequentially correspond to thefirst support surface 5151, the second support surface 5152, and thethird support surface 5153, from the upper portion to the lower portionof the door inner plate 401. The third surface 5153 may be curved,whereas the third guide surface 4413 may be flat.

Assuming that zones in which the first support surface 5151, the secondsupport surface 5152, and the third support surface 5153, and the firstguide surface 4411, the second guide surface 4412, and the third guidesurface 4413, which respectively correspond thereto, are sequentiallyreferred to as a first zone R1, a second zone R2, and a third zone R3,the first support surface 5151 and the first guide surface 4411 may becurved and may face each other in the state of being parallel to eachother in the first zone R1. In other words, the first support surface5151 and the first guide surface 4411 may have the same curvature suchthat the distance therebetween is maintained constant. When the distanceH1 between the first support surface 5151 and the first guide surface4411 is greater than the spacing distance in the first zone R1, theroller 530 may press the pants P due to the constant elastic force ofthe elastic member 552. Accordingly, the pants P may be pressed by aconstant pressure in the first zone R1.

The second support surface 5152 and the second guide surface 4412 areflat, and a constant distance is maintained therebetween in the secondzone R2. Here, the second guide surface 4412 may be a portion of therear surface. In other words, it is possible to employ the flat rearsurface itself. Here, because the distance therebetween is maintainedconstant, the roller 530 may press the pants P with constant pressure.

The distance between the third support surface 5153 and the third guidesurface 4413 may decrease in the third zone R3. The reason for this isbecause the third guide surface 4413 is flat and the third supportsurface 5153 is curved toward the door inner plate 401. For reference,the door inner plate 401 may be positioned between the base plate 510and the guide 440.

Because the distance between the roller 530 and the moving unit 550decreases in the third zone R3, the elastic member 552 may push out theroller 530 rather than pulling the roller 530 toward the base plate 510.Accordingly, the force applied to the pants P may be eliminated orminimized in the third zone R3, which corresponds to the waist portionof the pants P. The reason for this is because the waist portion of thepants P is provided with various projecting elements such as zippers,buttons and pockets, which are apt to be crushed by pressure, andunwanted double creases are apt to be formed.

In the third zone R3, it is possible to remove wrinkles by sprayingsteam through the steam spray hole 5331 to cause the steam to permeatethe pants P rather than by pressing the pants P using the roller 530.

FIG. 11(a) illustrates embodiments of the base plate 510 and the guide440, which are curved differently. Unlike the base plate 510 and theguide 440 shown in FIG. 10 , the base plate 510 may be flat. The guide440 may be flat in the upper portion and the intermediate portionthereof, and may be curved toward the rear surface in the lower portionthereof. For reference, the rear surface 4011 may be positioned betweenthe base plate 510 and the guide 440. In FIG. 11 , the zone thatcorresponds to the upper portion and the intermediate portion 4414 ofthe guide 440 is referred to as a first zone S1, and the zone thatcorresponds to the lower portion 4415 of the guide 440 is referred to asa second zone S2. The guide 440 and the base plate 510 may be parallelto each other in the first zone S1. Accordingly, when the distancebetween the guide 440 and the base plate 510 is equal to or greater thana predetermined distance, the roller 530 may press the pants P with aconstant pressure.

FIG. 11(b) schematically illustrates the state in which the roller 530is positioned in the second zone S2. In the second zone S2, the baseplate 510 may be flat, but the guide 440 may be curved such that thedistance between the base plate 510 and the guide 440 decreasesdownwards. Accordingly, because the distance between the roller 530 andthe moving unit 550 decreases in the second zone S2, the elastic member552 may push out the roller 530 rather than pulling the roller 530toward the base plate 510. Consequently, the force applied to the pantsP may be removed or minimized in the second zone S2, which correspondsto the waist portion of the pants P. The reason for this is because thewaist portion of the pants P is provided with various projectingelements, such as zippers, buttons and pockets, which are apt to becrushed by pressure, and unwanted double creases are apt to be formed.

In the second zone S2, it is possible to remove wrinkles by sprayingsteam through the steam spray hole 5331 to cause the steam to permeatethe pants P rather than by pressing the pants P using the roller 530.

Although there is an advantage in that the base plate 510 and the guide440 shown in FIG. 11 have a simpler shape than that shown in FIG. 10 ,it is preferable to have the shape shown in FIG. 10 in the interest ofreduction of double creases in the pants P.

When the rotating shaft 536 includes the first rotating shaft 5361 andthe second rotating shaft 5362, which are provided at the two ends ofthe roller 530, the moving unit 550 may include the first transferportion 5501 and the second transfer portion 5502, which are provided atthe two ends of the roller 530 and are respectively coupled to the firstrotating shaft 5361 and the second rotating shaft 5362. The guide hole415 may include the first guide hole 4151 and the second guide hole4152, which are vertically formed in the two lateral sides of the baseplate 510, in which the first transfer portion 5501 is inserted into thefirst guide hole 4151 and the second transfer portion 5502 is insertedinto the second guide hole 4152. The elastic member 552 may include afirst elastic member 5521, which is positioned at the first transferportion 5501 so as to cause the roller 530 to press the pants P towardthe base plate 510 and to support the rotating shaft 536, and a secondelastic member 5522, which is positioned at the second transfer portion5502 so as to cause the roller 530 to press the pants P toward the baseplate 510 and to support the rotating shaft 536.

The first transfer portion 5501 may include the first transfer mount5531 inserted into the first guide hole 4151, the first wheel 5541,which is coupled to the mount body lower surface 5573 of the firsttransfer mount 5531 and moves the first transfer portion 5501 along thefirst guide 441 in the vertical direction of the door 400, and the firsttransfer support 5511, which is coupled to the first transfer mount 5531and supports the first rotating shaft 5361.

The second transfer portion 5502 may include the second transfer mount5532 inserted into the second guide hole 4152, the second wheel 5542,which is coupled to the mount body lower surface (not shown) of thesecond transfer mount 5532 moves the second transfer portion 5502 alongthe second guide 442 in the vertical direction of the door 400, and thesecond transfer support 5512, which is coupled to the second transfermount 5532 and supports the second rotating shaft 5362. The mount bodylower surface (not shown) of the second mount 5532 may be the same asthat shown in FIG. 9(c).

The mount body upper surface of the first transfer mount 5531 and themount body upper surface of the second transfer mount 5532 may haverespectively formed therein a first support hole and a second supporthole, which are formed similarly to the support hole 5576 shown in FIG.9(c).

Here, the first elastic member 5521 may be positioned between the firsttransfer mount 5531 and the first transfer support 5511 so as toelastically connect the same to each other, and the second elasticmember 5522 may be positioned between the second transfer mount 5532 andthe second transfer support 5512 so as to elastically connect the sameto each other.

Accordingly, the apparatus may include a first guide 441, which ispositioned on the rear surface 4011 so as to correspond to the firstguide hole 415 and which controls the distance between the roller 530and the first transfer portion 5501 by controlling the distance to thebase plate 510, and a second guide 442, which is positioned on the rearsurface 4011 so as to correspond to the second guide hole 4152 and whichcontrols the distance between the roller 530 and the moving unit 550 bycontrolling the distance to the base plate 510. Each of the first guide441 and the second guide 442 may have the same shape as that of theguide 440.

As described above, the base plate 510 may include the support surface515 configured to support the pants P. The support surface 515 mayinclude the first support surface 5151, which is positioned at the upperportion thereof and is curved, the second support surface 5152, whichextends parallel to the door inner plate 401 from the first supportsurface 5151, and the third support surface 5153, which is positioned atthe lower portion thereof so as to be connected to the second supportsurface 5152 and is curved.

Preferably, the distance between the door inner plate 401 and the firstsupport surface 5151 may increase moving toward the second supportsurface 5152, the distance between the door inner plate 401 and thesecond support surface 5152 may be constant, and the perpendiculardistance between the door inner plate 401 and the third support surface5153 may decrease moving away from the second support surface 5152.

Similarly, the first guide 441 may include the first guide surface 4411,which is positioned so as to correspond to the first support surface5151 and to be parallel to the first support surface 5151, the secondguide surface 4412, which is positioned so as to correspond to thesecond support surface 5152 and to be parallel to the second supportsurface 5152 and which is connected at one end thereof to one end of thefirst guide surface 4411, and the third guide surface 4413, whichextends from the second guide surface 4412 parallel to the door innerplate 401.

The second guide 442 may include a fourth guide surface 4421, which ispositioned so as to correspond to the first support surface 5151 and tobe parallel to the first support surface 5151 and which has the sameshape as that of the first guide surface 4411, a fifth guide surface4422, which is positioned so as to correspond to the second supportsurface 5152 and to be parallel to the second support surface 5152 andwhich is connected at one end thereof to one end of the fourth guidesurface 4421 and has the same shape as that of the second guide surface4412, and a sixth guide surface 4423, which is positioned so as tocorrespond to the third support surface 5153 and which extends from thefifth guide surface 442 parallel to the door inner plate 401 and has thesame shape as that of the fifth guide surface 4422.

The first transfer portion 5501 may be movable along the first guidehole 4151 in the vertical direction of the door 400 upon rotation of theroller 530, and the second transfer 5502 may also be reciprocable alongthe second guide hole 4152 in the vertical direction of the door 400 (inthe direction of the arrow) upon rotation of the roller 530.

Here, the wheel 554 may include the first wheel 5541 coupled to thefirst transfer portion 5501 and the second wheel 5542 coupled to thesecond transfer portion 5502. The first wheel 5541 and the second wheel5542 may respectively include the first upper wheel 5541 a and thesecond lower wheel 554 b. Each of the first upper wheel 5541 a and thesecond lower wheel 554 b may include the wheel shaft 5543, which isprovided parallel to the width direction of the door 400, and the wheelrotator 5544, which is coupled to the wheel shaft 5543 and enables themoving unit 550 to smoothly moves along the guide hole 415 by virtue ofreduction of friction with the rear surface 4011.

FIG. 12 illustrates an embodiment capable of pressing the pants P usingthe elastic member 552 provided at the moving unit 550, regardless ofthe thickness of the pants P. Here, FIG. 12(a) illustrates the case inwhich thin pants are pressed, and FIG. 12(b) illustrates the case inwhich thick pants are pressed. As illustrated in FIG. 12 , the distancebetween the rear surface 4011 and the base plate 510 (or the roller 530)or the distance between the guide surface 4401 and the base plate 510(or the roller 530) may vary depending on the thickness of the pants P.

When it is intended to interpose the pants P between the base plate 510and the roller 530, the roller 530 may be pulled, and the pants P hungon the laundry hanger support 405 may be inserted into the gap betweenthe base plate 510 and the roller 530. Alternatively, the rotating shaft536 may be detachably coupled to the moving support of one of the firsttransfer support 5511 and the second transfer support 5512, whichsupport the roller 530, and the moving support of the other of the firsttransfer support 5511 and the second transfer support 5512 may beprovided with a hinge so as to be rotatable. The hinge may be providedin the vertical direction of the door 400 so as to be parallel to thedoor 400. After the roller body 5301 is rotated about the hinge and thepants P are hung on the laundry hanger support 405, the roller body 5301may be rotated again, and may be coupled to the moving support again.

It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that variousmodifications and variations can be made in the present inventionwithout departing from the spirit or scope of the invention. Thus, it isintended that the present invention cover the modifications andvariations of this invention provided they come within the scope of theappended claims and their equivalents.

1. A laundry treatment apparatus comprising: a cabinet including aninlet defined in one side thereof; a first chamber, which is positionedin the cabinet and receives laundry therein through the inlet; a secondchamber, which is positioned below the first chamber and defines a spaceseparated from the first chamber; a door rotatably coupled to thecabinet so as to open and close the inlet; a door inner plate positionedon a side of the door that faces the first chamber; a laundry hangersupport, which is provided on the door inner plate and supports pantshung thereon; a base plate, which is coupled to the door inner plate ina state of being spaced apart therefrom and supports the pants hung onthe laundry hanger support; a guide hole oriented in a verticaldirection of the door and formed through the door in a directionperpendicular both to the vertical direction and to a width direction ofthe door; a rotating shaft provided in a width direction of the door soas to be parallel thereto; a roller rotating about the rotating shaftand pressing the pants; a moving unit supporting the rotating shaft andmoving in the vertical direction of the door due to rotation of theroller; and an elastic member positioned at the moving unit andconnected to the rotating shaft so as to apply elastic force to theroller such that the roller presses the pants toward the base plate. 2.The laundry treatment apparatus of claim 1, wherein the moving unitcomprises: a moving mount inserted partway into the guide hole andmoving in the vertical direction of the door; and a moving supportcoupled to the moving mount so as to support the rotating shaft, andwherein the elastic member is positioned between the moving mount andthe moving support so as to elastically connect the moving mount and themoving support to each other.
 3. The laundry treatment apparatus ofclaim 2, wherein the moving mount comprises: a moving mount bodyreceiving therein a portion of the moving support; and a support holepositioned at the moving mount so as to face the first chamber and toallow a remaining portion of the moving support to project outwardstherethrough, and wherein the elastic member is received in the movingmount body so as to elastically connect the portion of the movingsupport to the moving mount body.
 4. The laundry treatment apparatus ofclaim 3, wherein the base plate is coupled to the door inner plate inthe state of being spaced apart therefrom, and is configured to have acurved surface at a portion thereof close to the laundry hanger support,wherein the moving support comprises: a first support body inserted intothe moving mount and connected to the elastic member; and a secondsupport body, which is connected to the first support body and supportsthe roller, and wherein the elastic member is positioned between thesecond support body and a mount body upper surface and applies force tothe roller toward the base plate when a distance between the door innerplate and the base plate is equal to or greater than a predetermineddistance.
 5. The laundry treatment apparatus of claim 1, wherein thebase plate includes a support surface supporting the pants, the supportsurface including a first support surface, which is positioned at anupper portion of the support surface and has a curved surface, and asecond support surface, which is positioned below the first supportsurface and extends parallel to the door inner plate, and wherein adistance between the door inner plate and the first support surfaceincreases moving toward the second support surface.
 6. The laundrytreatment apparatus of claim 5, wherein a distance between the doorinner plate and the second support surface is constant.
 7. The laundrytreatment apparatus of claim 6, wherein the door comprises: a rearsurface, which is a surface of the door inner plate positioned far awayfrom the inlet; a door outer plate coupled to the rear surface so as todefine a mount space therebetween; and a guide positioned on the rearsurface so as to control a distance between the roller and the movingunit.
 8. The laundry treatment apparatus of claim 7, wherein the baseplate further includes a third support surface, which is positioned at alower portion of the support surface so as to be connected to the secondsupport surface and has a curved shape, and a distance between the doorinner plate and the third support surface decreases moving away from thesecond support surface.
 9. The laundry treatment apparatus of claim 8,wherein the guide comprises: a first guide surface positioned so as tocorrespond to the first support surface and to face the first supportsurface in a state of being parallel thereto; and a second guidesurface, which is positioned so as to correspond to the second supportsurface and to face the second support surface in a state of beingparallel thereto and is connected to one end of the first guide surface.10. The laundry treatment apparatus of claim 9, wherein the guidefurther includes a third guide surface, which is positioned so as tocorrespond to the third support surface and extends from the secondguide surface parallel to the door inner plate.
 11. The laundrytreatment apparatus of claim 10, wherein the transfer portion comprises:a moving mount inserted into the guide hole; a wheel, which is coupledto one surface of the moving mount and moves the transfer portion alongthe guide in the vertical direction of the door; and a moving support,which is coupled to the moving mount and supports the rotating shaft,and wherein the elastic member is positioned between the moving mountand the moving support so as to elastically connect the moving mount andthe moving support to each other.
 12. The laundry treatment apparatus ofclaim 11, wherein the moving mount comprises: a moving mount bodyreceiving therein a portion of the moving support; and a support holepositioned at the moving mount so as to face the first chamber and toallow a remaining portion of the moving support to project outwardstherethrough, and wherein the elastic member is received in the movingmount body so as to elastically connect the portion of the movingsupport to the moving mount body.
 13. The laundry treatment apparatus ofclaim 1, wherein the rotating shaft includes a first rotating shaft anda second rotating shaft rotatably supporting two ends of the roller,wherein the transfer portion includes a first transfer portion and asecond transfer portion, which are respectively coupled to the firstrotating shaft and the second rotating shaft at the two ends of theroller, wherein the guide hole comprises: a first guide hole into whichthe first transfer portion is inserted; and a second guide hole intowhich the second transfer portion is inserted, the first guide hole andthe second guide hole being provided at two side surfaces of the baseplate in the vertical direction of the door, and wherein the elasticmember comprises: a first elastic member positioned at the firsttransfer portion so as to bias the roller toward the base plate to thuspress the pants and support the rotating shaft; and a second elasticmember positioned at the second transfer portion so as to bias theroller toward the base plate to thus press the pants and support therotating shaft.
 14. The laundry treatment apparatus of claim 13, whereinthe door comprises: a rear surface which is a surface of the door innerplate that is positioned far from the inlet; a door outer plate coupledto the rear surface so as to define therein a mount space therebetween;a first guide, which is provided at a position on the rear surface thatcorresponds to the first guide hole and controls a distance between theroller and the moving unit; and a second guide, which is provided at aposition on the rear surface that corresponds to the second guide holeand which controls the distance between the roller and the moving unit,similarly to the first guide.
 15. The laundry treatment apparatus ofclaim 14, wherein the base plate includes a support surface supportingthe pants, and wherein the support surface comprises: a first supportsurface, which is positioned at an upper portion of the support surfaceand has a curved surface; a second support surface positioned below thefirst support surface so as to be parallel to the door inner plate; anda third surface, which is positioned at a lower portion of the supportsurface so as to be connected to the second support surface and has acurved surface.
 16. The laundry treatment apparatus of claim 15, whereina distance between the door inner plate and the first support surfaceincreases moving toward the second support surface, wherein a distancebetween the door inner plate and the second support surface is constant,and wherein a distance between the door inner plate and the thirdsupport surface decreases moving away from the second support surface.17. The laundry treatment apparatus of claim 16, wherein the first guidecomprises: a first guide surface positioned so as to correspond to thefirst support surface and to face the first support surface in a stateof being parallel thereto; a second guide surface, which is positionedso as to correspond to the second support surface and to face the secondsupport surface in a state of being parallel thereto and is connected toone end of the first guide surface; and a third guide surface, which ispositioned so as to correspond to the third support surface and extendsfrom the second guide surface parallel to the door inner plate, andwherein the second guide comprises: a fourth guide surface, which ispositioned so as to correspond to the first support surface and to facethe first support surface in a state of being parallel thereto and hasthe same shape as the first guide surface; a fifth guide surface, whichis positioned so as to correspond to the second support surface and toface the second support surface in a state of being parallel thereto andhas the same shape as the second guide surface; and a sixth guidesurface, which is positioned so as to correspond to the third supportsurface and extends from the fifth guide surface parallel to the doorinner plate and which has the same shape as the fifth guide surface. 18.The laundry treatment apparatus of claim 17, wherein the first transferportion comprises: a first transfer mount inserted into the first guidehole; a first wheel, which is coupled to one surface of the firsttransfer mount and moves the first transfer portion along the firstguide in the vertical direction of the door; and a first transfersupport, which is coupled to the first transfer mount and supports thefirst rotating shaft, wherein the second transfer portion comprises: asecond transfer mount inserted into the second guide hole; a secondwheel, which is coupled to one surface of the second transfer mount andmoves the second transfer portion along the second guide in the verticaldirection of the door; and a second transfer support, which is coupledto the second transfer mount and supports the second rotating shaft,wherein the first elastic member is positioned between the firsttransfer mount and the first transfer support so as to elasticallyconnect the first transfer mount and the first transfer support to eachother, and wherein the second elastic member is positioned between thesecond transfer mount and the second transfer support so as toelastically connect the second transfer mount and the second transfersupport to each other.
 19. The laundry treatment apparatus of claim 18,wherein the first transfer mount comprises: a first transfer mount bodyreceiving therein a portion of the first transfer support; and a firstsupport hole positioned at the first transfer mount body so as to facethe first chamber and to allow a remaining portion of the first transfersupport to project outwards therethrough, wherein the second transfermount comprises: a second transfer mount body receiving therein aportion of the second transfer support; and a second support holepositioned at the second transfer mount body so as to face the firstchamber and to allow a remaining portion of the second transfer supportto project outwards therethrough, wherein the first elastic member isreceived in the first transfer mount body and elastically connects aportion of the first transfer support to the first transfer mount body,and wherein the second elastic member is received in the second transfermount body and elastically connects a portion of the second transfersupport to the second transfer mount body.